Blu-ray Region Codes
Blu-ray discs may be encoded with a region code, intended to restrict the area of the world in which they can be played; similar to the DVD region codes.
Blu-ray players sold in a certain region should only be able to play discs encoded for that region.
The purpose of this system is to allow motion picture studios to control the various aspects of a release (including content, date, and, in particular, price) according to the region.
Discs may also be produced without region coding, so they can be played on all devices.
Please check the map below for Regional Codes.
Region Code A/1
North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia.
Region Code B/2
Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, plus all of Oceania.
Region Code C/3
India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mainland China, Pakistan, Russia, Central, and South Asia.
This arrangement places the countries of the major Blu-ray manufacturers (Japan, Korea, Malaysia) in the same region as the U.S., thus ensuring early releases of U.S. content to those markets. As of early 2008, about two-thirds of all released discs are region-free.
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