Region Codes
Our website will list all the regions a particular DVD or Blu-ray title is compatible with.
Australian DVDs are in PAL format and encoded for Region 4 unless stated otherwise on our website. You may notice that some discs have multiple zones ensuring playability in other countries, providing your DVD player and television are both PAL compatible.
USA will only play DVD’s in NTSC format. Please refer to each individual item’s page for this information prior to your purchase.
What do PAL and NTSC mean?
PAL and NTSC are two different types of Television screen formats.
NTSC stands for ‘National Television Standards Committee’. This is the standard format used for television in USA, Canada, Central American and Japan. This format uses 525 lines of resolution at 60 half frames per second.
PAL stands for ‘Phase Altering Line’. This is the standard format used for televisions in Australia, United Kingdom and most of the rest of the world. This format uses 625 lines of resolution at 50 half frames per second.
DVD REGION CODING
There are six DVD regions in the world. Each DVD is labelled with a region(s) it is from.
Region 1 – Canada, United States, U.S. territories, Bermuda
Region 2 – Europe, Western Asia, Egypt, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, British overseas territories, French overseas territories, Greenland
Region 3 – Southeast Asia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan
Region 4 – Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, Central and South America, Caribbean, Mexico
Region 5 – Africa, Central and South Asia, Belarus, Mongolia, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine
Region 6 – Mainland China
Additionally, DVDs may be encoded as Region 0, or Region All, which means that they are compatible throughout regions 1-6.
BLU-RAY REGION CODING:
Blu-ray discs are also region encoded, with the regions being as follows:
Region A – Americas, East and Southeast Asia, U.S. territories, Bermuda
Region B – Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, Middle East, Netherlands, British overseas territories, French territories, Greenland
Region C – Central and South Asia, Mongolia, Russia, China Some Blu-ray discs may also be multi-region, ie A, B and C, which means they are compatible in all regions.
