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What if you have a region-1 DVD that you bought in JFK airport during your business trip and your PS5 is a region-2 game console imported from Japan? You'll likely experience difficulty playing that DVD on your PS5. Why? The PSP (PlayStation Portable) can only play games and videos intended for the region where it was purchased. This is done to comply with copyright laws and prevent the importation of pirated content. Luckily, we can make our DVDs region-free for PS4 and PS5 within simple steps! Keep reading to know.
- PS4 and PS5 are region-locked for movies.
- PS4 and PS5 are region-free for games.
- DLCS (extra content that players can download after purchasing a video game) are region-locked for PS4 and PS5 and connected to the PSN account.
- You can change the region on PS4 or PS5.
Is PS5 or PS4 Region Locked
The PSP game console (PS4 or PS5) is region-free, allowing you to play game DVDs from different countries. However, extra downloadable content (DLC) is region-locked and connected to your PSN (PlayStation Network) account. As a result, playing region-locked DVDs directly on your PS4 or PS5 can lead to various error messages, such as the DVD being unplayable, audio syncing issues, a black screen during playback, a pop-up message saying "The DVD cannot be read", or choppy video playback. To avoid these problems, ensure that the game, DLC, PSN account, and console all belong to the same region. Below is a list of PlayStation regions for games and its add-on DLC. If your PSN account is tied to SCEA, you won't be able to access games and DLC limited to SCEJ, SCEK, SCEAsia, and SCEE.
| License | Countries and Regions |
|---|---|
SCEE |
Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom. |
SCEA |
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, United States |
SCEAsia |
Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand |
SCEJ |
Japan |
SCEK |
South Korea |
Asides, the DVDs and Blu-rays are region-locked or copy-protected. If you are trying to play DVDs on PS4 or PS5 from another region, your PlayStation console will reject the disc. The easiest solution is to remove DVD restrictions using a dedicated DVD ripper to remove region codecs from your DVDs. The table below will show you the distribution of DVD regions:
Region number |
Region 1 |
Region 2 |
Region 3 |
Region 4 |
Region 5 |
Region 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Areas |
The U.S., U.S. Territories, Canada, and Bermuda |
Japan, Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East, including Egypt |
Southeast Asia, East Asia, including Hong Kong |
Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean |
Eastern Europe, Baltic States, Russia, Central and South Asia, Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia |
China |
Can You Change the Region on PS4 or PS5
It depends. You are not allowed to change your existing PSN country once you have created your account. Instead, you can create a new PSN account. If you only need to play DVDs from different countries or regions, it is unnecessary to change the region on your PS4. You can rip DVDs to get region-free digital copies that can be played back freely.
How to Change the Region on PS4 or PS5
Important! You can only change the DVD region up to 4 times on the PS4/PS5 console. After that, the region will be locked to the last one that you set. It will be troublesome if the last one isn't the region that you are currently in, or if you have invested mostly in terms of DVD collections. For that reason, instead of changing the DVD region back and forth, a better solution is to unlock region lock to make all region-locked DVDs playable on PSP.
Step 1. Open your PlayStation, and click the control panel icon.
Step 2. Navigate to System and Maintenance > Device Manager > DVD/CD-ROM.
Step 3. Open the Device Properties windows and choose the DVD Region option.
Step 4. Select a number according to your DVD region code.
For some PS4 models, after you insert the DVD and try to play it, you shall see the following notice: "To play this DVD, change the DVD region code of the PS4" (see screenshot below).
- Hit Next until you see the region map.
- When you are scrolling between region number 1-6, the corresponding region will be highlighted on the map.
- You can also refer to the chart above on the DVD region list.
Disclaimer: We do not advocate ripping copy-protected DVDs for commercial purpose. Please refer to the DVD copyright laws in your country before doing so.
How to Play Region Locked DVDs on PS4 or PS5
To bypass the region restriction of DVD, you can take full advantage of VideoProc Converter AI with its transcoding and DVD copy ability, and convert the DVDs into a region-free video file in any format such as DVD to MP4 that will fit your game consoles without a problem. Check some of its highlight features:
- Decrypt ARccOS, REC, CSS, UOPs, and more DVD protection schemes
- Auto-digitalize your DVDs to any popular video/device format
- 5min to back up a full DVD; shrink DVD to 80%; 1:1 quality ratio
- Output profile for Sony TV/PSP/PS3/PS4/PS5, Microsoft Xbox One, etc
- All-in-one: DVD/video/audio conversion, compression, edits, downloads…
- New! AI upscale and remaster your DVDs to crispy 4K quality
Note: The Windows version now supports AI-powered Super Resolution, Frame Interpolation, and Stabilization to enhance video and image quality. These AI features are not yet available in the Mac version but will be coming soon.
Step 1. Enable the DVD Ripper
Insert your DVD into the DVD drive and launch VideoProc Converter AI until you see its main interface. Click DVD.
Step 2. Add Your Region Locked DVD
Hit the DVD disc button. Then, a new window will pop up to let you select the source DVD.
Step 3. Unlock the Region Lock
Click the Target Format at the bottom left corner, and go to Sony Device and select the target PSP model.
Step 4. Click RUN to start making DVD region-free for PS4 or PS5. When it's done, you can copy the digitized DVD content to a USB drive, and play it on PSP from USB.
You might want to know: what's more VideoProc Converter AI can help
| Natively PSP DVD Can't Play | How VideoProc Converter AI Can Help |
|---|---|
Region-locked DVDs |
• Turn the disc into region-free video format for PS4 |
Scratched DVDs. DVDs with stickers and paper labels |
• Read and digitize scratched, slighted deformed, worn, dirty DVDs. |
DVDs encoded in a way your console doesn't support |
• Convert DVD to PS4-friendly profile: H264, AVI, MPEG4, MPEG2. |
8cm discs. Non-circular discs (card, star, or heart-shaped) |
• Digitize the Sony Handycam 8cm disc into PS4-supported MP4 (recommended), MKV, AVI, MPEG-2, etc. |
Note: The Windows version now supports AI-powered Super Resolution, Frame Interpolation, and Stabilization to enhance video and image quality. These AI features are not yet available in the Mac version but will be coming soon.
FAQs
1. Can PS4 or PS5 Play Region 2 DVDs
Region 2 DVDs are from Japan, Europe or South Africa. For example, if you want to play a Japanese game on your PS4 in the United States, you should sign up for a Japanese SEN account, change to log in with a Japanese account, and activate it. You can jump to the bottom of this article to check how to change the DVD region on PS4. If you don't want to bother switching back and forth to the main account, it is suggested to bypass the region code of the DVD using the method recommended in the article.
2. How to Check What Is the Current Region on Your PSP
- Navigate to the PlayStation Store.
- Press the three-dot icon to show more, and hit Payment Method.
- Press Pay by Mobile.
- In the pop-up window, you shall see which region you are in for the PlayStation Store.
You can check the Storefront Country by pressing the three-dot icon. Hit Storefront Country.
3. How to Change the PSN Region
According to user feedback, this feature seems only available in selected regions such as European countries.
- Navigate to Settings > Account Management > Account Information.
- Press the Address option.
- Prepare information such as city, zip code for the region you want to change to.
If entering information on the PS console is troublesome, you can also manage the PSN online from a computer.
If you cannot change the PSN account tied to a certain region, then create a new account to select the region you want.
- Press on your profile icon
- Hover to the Switch User option.
- Press Add User > Get Started.
- Select the country or region that you want to download extra add-ons or for other purposes.
