The region-lock feature on DVDs is an access control mechanism that is used in commercial DVD discs – it specifies the geographical region in which a DVD can be viewed. These regions are quite broad – region 1 specifies Canada and the US for example, while region 2 refers to Japan and Europe. Disks equipped with this feature (usually, ones that are sold with copyrighted content such as movies on them) are not supposed to be played outside of their region.