Blu Ray Regions

Some Blu-Ray DVDs are produced with a region code to restrict where they can and can't be used - this is mainly used to enable the studios to release a movie at different times in different territories, although it can also involve different pricing policies and Blu-Ray deals for specific countries.

Most Blu-Ray discs are released region-free, but when they are used the Blu-Ray regions are similar to the region codes that have existed for regular DVDs for some time but with different geographical grouping.

There are three Blu-Ray regions, A, B and C.

• A - East Asia (except Mainland China and Mongolia), Southeast Asia, the Americas and their dependencies.
• B - Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia), Oceania and their dependencies.
• C - Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South Asia, central Eurasia (including Russia) and their dependencies

Note the countries where the major Blu-ray manufacturers are based (Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, etc) are in the same region as the Americas. The film studios have different region coding policies on Blu-Ray deals - from Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios who have released all of their titles region free, through to Sony Pictures and Warner Bros who have released most of their titles region free to 20th Century Fox, whose titles are usually region coded.