You borrow a Blu-ray or DVD from a friend or buy one online somewhere. You Stick it into your player. And then, disaster strikes! You get a message like "Region not allowed", and the movie won't play.

Region code explained

Region codes are basically DRM (digital rights management) techniques that allow studios to control the release of films in various regions. So, for example, they can release a new movie in the USA first, and then the UK, and then elsewhere.

Region code for Blu-ray and DVD

Almost all commercial DVDs that are sold have region code, which only allows the DVD to be played on DVD players that have this region code, and the only DVD players that typically do have this region code are those sold in that same region. Following is a color-coded region map for DVDs:

For more information about DVD region code, please read this article: play DVD disc with different region code.

Blu-ray region code

Blu-ray discs also have region codes, but most studios don't enforce the region code restrictions, which are way more lax than for DVDs. There are 3 separate Blu-Ray region codes. These codes are classified alphabetically as Region A, Region B, and Region C. Blu-ray discs that have been manufactured in region A are embedded with region code A, and are therefore only usable with players from region A. The same is applicable for regions B and C. Below is a map showing how Blu-ray region codes are separated and administered by geographic location.

Remove region code from Blu-ray/DVD disc

Therefore, before purchasing Blu-ray or DVD disc, make sure that the region code on your disc is the same with your Blu-ray or DVD disc player. However, sometimes, if the Blu-ray or DVD disc are borrowed from your friends or purchased from overseas, you will need a special program to assist you to bypass Blu-ray/DVD region code.

For your great convenience, here, we would like to recommend you a comprehensive application called Pavtube BDMagic for Windows/Mac which is armed with the powerful functionality to remove region code from both Blu-ray and DVD disc.

As for output file formats, you can output a region free disc with all the original file structure of the original Blu-ray/DVD disc or save as an intact M2TS/VOB movie without any extras for direct playback with your Blu-ray or DVD disc player.

How to remove and play region code locked Blu-ray/DVD disc movies?

Step 1. Add Blu-ray/DVD disc movies.

Run the program on your computer, on the main interface click "File" > "Load from disc" to Load Blu-ray disc or DVD from optical drive. When both Blu-ray and DVD exists, the software will load DVD.

Step 2: Specify output file format.

Get a full Blu-ray/DVD disc without region code

Hitting the icon on the top tool bar of the main interface.

Output a region free main movie copy of Blu-ray/DVD disc

From "Format" bar, select "Copy" > "Direct Copy" to copy the main movie of the Blu-ray/DVD disc.

Step 3: Start Blu-ray/DVD region code unlocking process.

Clicking the Convert button on main interface to start to unlock Blu-ray/DVD region code.

After the conversion, you can click Open output folder to popup output directory with the converted Blu-ray or DVD disc with no region code. Feel free to play them on your Blu-ray or DVD disc players or game consoles like PS4/PS3.