Over the last couple of years, online streaming has taken over the traditional forms of watching media, which include TV, and DVD/ Blu-ray media. In fact, big companies like Samsung have stopped releasing new Blu-ray and DVD players in the US market. However, that does not entirely mean that DVDs and Blu-rays are dead, in fact, they are very much alive and they will be for the foreseeable future. Netflix can send you copies of their movies and series in the form of DVDs and Blu-rays. The new Xbox Series X and PS5 gaming consoles are also reportedly going to include support for 4K Blu-ray discs. In this article, we will focus on Region A/1 Blu-ray, and how you can view the content in Europe.

Part 1: What is Region A/1 Blu-ray

All Blu-ray Discs have region codes written in letters to indicate a particular zone or region where you can play the discs. Those Blu-ray region codes include the following:

  • Region A/1:
  • North America, South America, U.S. Territories, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and other areas of Southeast Asia.

  • Region B/2:
  • Europe, Africa, Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand.

  • Region C/3:
  • Asia (except for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and other areas of Southeast Asia)

    For Region A/1 Blu-ray Discs or ISO files, this means that a computer or a Blu-ray Disc player purchased in countries listed in Region A/1 can only play Blu-ray Disc that are recorded in that region, in exception to Region-Free discs and players. Suppose you want to play Region A/1 Blu-ray in Region B/2, how would you do it? Well, we have the solution just for you, and we will discuss it on the next section of this article.

    blu-ray-region-code

    Solution 1: Convert Region 1 Blu-ray to MP4/ MKV

    You can rip the region A/1 Blu-ray to commonly used format for playing back, for ripping and backing up Blu-ray, I’ll recommend Leawo Blu-ray Ripper, which is undoubtedly the best Blu-ray ripping software available on the market for several reasons.

    Leawo built it to support over 180 video and audio formats, all of which support 4K, 1080P, 720P as well as other regular video qualities. The user interface of this software is user friendly, and we believe anyone regardless of their computer experience can use it. Customizing videos is also a possibility with this software, before converting to get more enjoyment from your movies, you can merge video files, editing, trimming, watermarking, turn normal 2D videos to 3D movies, adjusting parameters etc.

    Many Blu-ray discs will come with encryption, including the latest MKB protection, but you will not need to worry about that with this software either. The support of batch conversion within this Blu-ray ripping software enables it to handle multiple Blu-ray/DVD to video conversions at one time, and it does all that at 6x higher speed through some accelerating technologies. You can learn more about the features of Leawo Blu-ray Ripper by visiting the product page. To start converting your Region 1 Blu-ray to MP4 or MKV video, make sure to download and install this program and follow the easy steps below.

    • Leawo Blu-ray Ripper
    • Leawo Blu-ray Ripper

      ☉ Decrypt and rip Blu-ray/DVD discs with disc protection and region code
      ☉ Convert Blu-ray/DVD to MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, FLV, and other 180+ HD/SD formats
      ☉ Convert Blu-ray/DVD main movie to videos for space saving
      ☉ Convert 2D Blu-ray/DVD movies to 3D movies with 6 different 3D effects
      ☉ Fast conversion with NVIDIA CUDA, AMD APP and Intel Quick Sync acceleration technologies

    Step 1: Start by adding the Region A/1 Blu-ray file

    When you first open this software, you will see the main interface. Click “Blu-ray Ripper”. When you launch this module, the software will suggest “Drag File Into Me” which you can do add the source. You can also click “Add UHD/Blu-ray/DVD” for the same task.

    Leawo-adding-video-source

    Step 2: Set the language and subtitle options

    Adding subtitles is one way this software allows you to customize your videos. Click the “Subtitle” drop-down menu, followed by clicking the “Add Subtitles” which will open a window to allow you to import the file (usually with .srt extensions). Clicking “Audio” will allow you to choose a language for the video, and this will depend on the number of languages available on your Region 1 Blu-ray file or disc.

    Leawo-subtitles-audio-menus

    Step 3: Set the profile settings

    Click the “MP4 Video” on the interface, followed by clicking the “Edit” from the pop-up menu which will take you to the profile settings. From there, you can select the video format (like MP4 or MKV) and you can set some video options (like the output quality, the codecs, the resolution and much more). You can also set your preferred output quality for the audio among several other options. After that, you can also save your custom settings by clicking “Save to Custom” on the left. When you are done, click “OK”.

    Leawo-profile-settings

    Step 4: Personalize your video

    After finishing with the profile settings, you are taken back to the previous menu. Click the edit video icon to get to the “Output Preview” menu. Here there are many ways to personalize your video (adding a watermark- by setting the font, color, transparency, and its position, cropping, trimming, 3D effects, noise removal, etc). Click “OK” once you are done.

    Leawo-personalizing-the-video

    Step 5: Convert your Region A/1 Blu-ray to MP4/ MKV video

    Once you are done with all the tweaks, you should be ready to convert your video. Click the green “Convert” button. A menu will show on the right. Set the output directory first, then click “Convert” to begin encoding and wait for the process to finish.

    setting-output-directory

    Solution 2: Use region-free player to play back region A/1 Blu-ray

    Actually, here is a more simple way here: Using a region-free player instead. In this scenario, you can trust Leawo Blu-ray Player(download and install it by clicking the button below), which is a totally free yet powerful Blu-ray/DVD/4K HD video player on the market. With its advanced decryption technology, Leawo Blu-ray Player could play Blu-ray discs of region A, B and C, and DVD discs from region 0 to 6. Different from other Blu-ray disc player apps that require you to change the player region and limit you to changing player regions by up to 5 times, this free Blu-ray disc player doesn’t even require you to set the player region.

    With virtual remote control support, Leawo Free Blu-ray Player software enables you to select what to play on the disc menu during Blu-ray/DVD disc playback via virtual remote controller. Moreover, it is capable of converting Blu-ray/DVD disc, folder and ISO image to MKV with lossless quality and 6X higher speed in the Premium version.

    Meanwhile, it’s quite simple to play region A/1 Blu-ray with ease, just check out the detailed steps below:

    Step 1: Download and install Leawo Blu-ray Player

    Click the button for downloading this program according to your computer version.

    • Leawo Blu-ray Player
    • Leawo Blu-ray Player

      Region-free Blu-ray player software to play Blu-ray disc and DVD disc for free, regardless of disc protection and region restriction.
      Play 4K FLV videos, 4K MKV videos, 4K MP4 videos, etc. without quality loss.
      Support the conversion from Blu-ray/DVD discs to MKV in the premium version.
      Deliver super high-quality stereo audio experience with the support of various advanced audio decoding technologies like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD (including 5.1, 7.1 channels), etc.

    Step 2: Load region A/1 Blu-ray file

    Launch the Leawo Blu-ray Player and Click the “Open File” button, and then import the specific file into this program.

    leawo-player-for-mac

    Solution 3: Change the region on BD players

    BD players produced in different countries adhering to the principle of the region code: the corresponding password recognition circuit is set in the player, when the Blu-ray/DVD disc playback, the BD player must decode the partition code of the disc for the smooth playback. If the BD player's area code is different from the disc's, the BD player cannot replay the disc. Many manufacturers allow users to reset or change the area code in BD player to play back the disc that brought from other countries or areas, however, there is a limit on it, people can reset or alter the region code on BD player no more than 5 times usually. Let's see how to change the region on BD player in the following contents:

    Step 1: Turn on the Blu-ray or DVD player, make sure there is no disc inside.
    Step 2: Locate the "Preferences" and enter "Settings" panel.
    Step 3: Click "Region" among the options and pick out the needed region code.

    play region a blu-ray