In which regions do PAL VHS tapes and DVDs work?
Whilst many players are dual format and can play both PAL and NTSC, some players will only work with the relevant format for that region. The countries in the world that use PAL (Phase Alternation by Line) broadcast and playback standards for television, video and DVD are:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brunei, Cameroon, Canary Islands, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, North Korea, Kuwait, Liberia, Luxembourg, Madeira, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay (PAL-N), Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The PAL standard was developed in Germany and is widely used in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
If you are creating DVD content for viewing predominantly in the regions listed above then you should look at creating a PAL format disc with a frame rate of 25 frames per second and a resolution of 720 x 576 pixels.
Find out more about the PAL standards.
Find out more about the NTSC standards.