Blu-ray (Region)

Blu-ray titles are playable only on Blu-ray players. They are not playable on conventional DVD players or HD DVD players!! There will be 3 regional encoding for Blu-ray as listed below, which are different from DVD region codes.

  • Region 1: Japan, North America, South America,
    and East Asia (excluding China)
  • Region 2: Europe and Africa
  • Region 3: India, China, Russia, and all other countries.

All Blu-ray titles available at CDJapan are NTSC formatted.
Please make sure your Blu-ray player and TV are NTSC-compatible before finalizing your order.

In some very rare cases, American movies may come with Japanese and international version. By inserting the disc in your player, instead of to have Japanese menu and language, the movie may appear with English menu/language (international version) without any kind of Japanese version. The reason is your player configuration was not set on Japanese language but on English (or an other language). In this case, please try to modify the language of your player.

ATTENTION : for Ultra HD Blu-ray format! Ultra HD Blu-ray player is necessary to play this Ultra HD Blu-ray disc. Please note that it will not play on regular Blu-ray player. For optimal viewing experience of 4K UltraHD content, 4K/HDR TV is recommended, although it is also compatible with 4K TV and HV TV. [About 4K UltraHD] 4K UHD boasts high resolution of 3840 pixels x 2160 lines (8.3 megapixels, aspect ratio 16:9), which is twice the horizontal and vertical resolution compared to the 1080p HDTV format, with four times as many pixels overall.

DVD (Region)

In Japan, where CDJapan is located, DVDs are region-2 encoded (Japan, Europe, Middle East, and South Africa) , almost without any exception.
There are 6 region codes. Typically, DVD players sold in one region is compatible only with DVD titles that are encoded for that region.

Region Code Region
Region 1 US and Canada
Region 2 Japan, Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East (including Egypt)
Region 3 Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong)
Region 4 Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean
Region 5 Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian Subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
Region 6 China

Most DVD titles available at CDJapan are encoded for Region 2. Please make sure your DVD player is compatible with region-2 discs before finalizing your order. Also make sure that your TV is NTSC-compatible

Region Code ALL/free

There are a DVD/Blu-ray titles that are playable in all regions. Such titles are indicated as "Region Code: ALL/free" under "Product Details" in item pages. If the indication is missing, then it must be assumed that the title is encoded for Region 2 for DVD or Region 1 for Blu-ray.

Language & Contents

If a DVD/Blu-ray has English subtitles or any other language, it will state "Subtitles: English" in the Product Details. If not, then the DVD/Blu-ray does not have any subtitles in English. Similarly, the audio track is available only in the language listed. We do not manufacture DVD and Blu-ray and very few Japanese manufacturers provide audio and subtitles other than Japanese language. However some movies and anime series such as Ghibli's masterpieces used to come with subtitles and audio in English. Please narrow your research using our tool on the left column on the bottom. Censorship of some contents may appear as Japanese manufacturers must respect the Japanese legislation.

Obi is not necessary included as it's a promotion paper used by manufacturer and may come during a limited period. We are not enable to provide your such information.

Returns

Please note that opened items are not eligible for returns, unless there is a manufacturer defect. So please make sure that your DVD player can play region 2 DVDs / region 1 Blu-ray or before completing your order (see Returns Policy).

SACD (Super Audio CD)

SACDs are playable only on SACD players, and will not play on regular CD players. On the other hand, SACD Hybrid disc has a layer that is playable also on regular CD payers. Such titles are indicated as "Format: SACD-Hybrid" in item details page.

Download contents

Some CD and Blu-ray/DVD have online contents that may be locked out of Japan or/and require online subscription account on Japanese website. We are not enable to help you on this matter.