Playing DVDs
If you insert a DVD into your computer and it doesn’t play, you may not have the right DVD codecs installed, or the DVD might be from a different region.
Install the codecs for DVD playback
A codec is a piece of software that allows applications to read a video or audio format. If your movie player software doesn’t find the right codecs, it may offer to install them for you. If not, you’ll have to install the codecs manually. DVD support cannot be provided by default in Ubuntu due to legal and technical restrictions.
Most commercial DVDs are encrypted using a system called CSS and so require the use of decryption software in order to play them. This prevents you from copying DVDs, but it also prevents you from playing them unless you have extra software to handle the copy protection. This software is available from a number of Linux distributions, but cannot be legally used in all countries.
Verify that you are within your rights to use the below unlicensed decryption software in your country.
On the command line, install the packages that provide DVD codecs:
sudo apt install libdvdnav4 libdvdread8t64 gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly libdvd-pkg
Let the libdvd-pkg package download the libdvdcss2 decryption library:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg
Confirm to install libdvdcss2.
Change the DVD region
DVDs have a region code, which tells you in which region of the world they are allowed to be played. If the region of your computer’s DVD player does not match the region of the DVD you are trying to play, you won’t be able to play the DVD. For example, if you have a Region 1 DVD player, you will only be allowed to play DVDs from North America.
It is often possible to change the region used by your DVD player, but it can only be done a few times before it locks into one region permanently.
To change the DVD region of your computer’s DVD player, use regionset.
Install regionset using the command line:
sudo apt install regionset
Run regionset to detect your DVD drive. Follow its instructions to change the region:
regionset
You can find more information about DVD region codes on Wikipedia.