How to Burn a Region-Free DVD

By James Red

An all-region DVD will play in any player, regardless of the region.
i DVD control panel with a STOP sign image by Peter Ivanov from Fotolia.com

DVD regions were designed by the movie industry to stop people from importing and exporting DVDs. All DVDs and most DVD players are assigned regions based on where they are sold, and the region of the DVD has to match the region of the player; otherwise, it won't play. If you're burning your own DVDs and you might be playing them in other countries, use any of the methods and programs below to make sure that your DVD will play, no matter where you are.

Using DVD Flick

Step 1

Download and install DVD Flick.

Step 2

Launch the program after installation is complete. Drag the video files you want to burn into the program window.

Step 3

Click on "Project Settings," and go to the "Burning" tab. Make sure that the box next to "Burn Project to Disc" is checked, and then click "Accept" to save these changes.

Step 4

Insert a blank DVD in the disc drive, and click "Create DVD."

Using Windows DVD Maker

Step 1

Insert a blank DVD in the disc drive, and start Windows DVD Maker. This free program is included in most new versions of Windows.

Step 2

Click on "Add Items," and add the video files (AVI, WMV and other video formats) you want to burn. Click "Next" after you've added all the files you want.

Step 3

Select a menu style by choosing a template on the right side. After you've chosen the template, click "Burn" to burn the files to a region-free disc. Windows DVD Maker does not assign regions to discs.

Using DVD Shrink and Video/Audio Folders

Step 1

Download and install DVD Shrink. Launch the program after installation is complete.

Step 2

Click on "Open Files," select the Video_TS and Audio_TS directories you want to burn to disc, and click "OK."

Step 3

Insert a blank DVD in the disc drive, and click "Backup!"

Step 4

Go to the "DVD Region" tab, and check the box next to "Region Free."

Step 5

Go to the "Target Device" tab. Under "Select Backup Target," choose the DVD drive. Click "OK" to burn the files to a region-free disc.

Using DVD Shrink and ISO files

Step 1

Download and install DVD Shrink. Insert a blank DVD in the disc drive, and launch the program.

Step 2

Go to "File," then "Open Disc Image." Select the ISO image you want to burn, and click "Open."

Step 3

Click on "Backup!" and go to the "DVD Region" tab. Check the box next to "Region Free."

Step 4

Go to the "Target Device" tab. Under "Select Backup Target," select the DVD drive.

Step 5

Click "OK" to burn the file to disc.

×