Compact Disc and DVD copy protection

CD/DVD copy protection is a blanket term for various methods of copy protection for CDs and DVDs. Such methods include DRM, CD-checks, Dummy Files, illegal tables of contents, over-sizing or over-burning the CD, physical errors and bad sectors. Many protection schemes rely on breaking compliance with CD and DVD standards, leading to playback problems on some devices.

Protection schemes rely on distinctive features that:

• can be applied to a medium during the manufacturing process, so that a protected medium is distinguishable from an unprotected one.
• cannot be faked, copied, or retroactively applied to an unprotected medium using typical hardware and software.