Pirated movie release types

Pirated movies are distributed in a variety of forms by groups such as Warez and organized piracy groups. Within these groups, a
movie is usually released in several formats and different versions, because the primary sources used by a group for a particular
movie may vary. Pirated movies are primarily released by these organized groups, commonly referred to as scene groups or warez
groups. The first release of a movie is usually of a lower quality (due to a lack of sources), and is eventually replaced with higher-
quality releases as better sources become available.

Contents
History
Cams
Pre-release
DVD and VOD ripping
DivX
Xvid
x264
x265 (HEVC)

Release formats
Release terminology
References

History
Pirated movies are usually released in several formats and different versions as better sources become available. The versions are
usually encoded in the popular formats at the time of encoding. The sources for pirated copies have often changed with time in
response to technology oranti-piracy measures.

Cams
Cam releases were the early attempts at movie piracy which were implemented by recording the on-screen projection of a movie in a
cinema. This enabled groups to pirate movies which were in their theatrical period (not released for personal entertainment).
Alternative methods were sought, as these releases often suffered distinctly low quality and required undetected videotaping in movie
theaters.

Pre-release
Beginning in 1998, feature films began to be released on the internet by warez groups prior to their theatrical release. These pirated
versions usually came in the form of VCD or SVCD. A prime example was the release of American Pie.[1] This is notable for three
reasons:

1. It was released in an uncensored workprint format. The later theatrical release was cut down by several minutes and
had scenes reworked to avoid nudity to passMPAA guidelines.
2. It was released nearly two months prior to its release in theatersCNN
( Headline News reported on its early release).
3. It was listed by the movie company as one of the reasons it released an unrated DVD edition.
DVD and VOD ripping

DivX
In October 1999, DeCSS was released. This program allowed anyone to remove the CSS encryption on a DVD. Although its authors
only intended the software to be used for playback purposes, it also meant that one could decode the content perfectly for ripping;
combined with the DivX 3.11 Alpha codec released shortly after, the new codec increased video quality from near VHS to almost
DVD quality when encoding from a DVD source.

Xvid
The early DivX releases were mostly internal for group use, but once the codec spread, it became accepted as a standard and quickly
became the most widely used format for the scene. With help from associates who either worked for a movie theater, movie
production company, or video rental company, groups were supplied with massive amounts of material, and new releases began
appearing at a very fast pace. When version 4.0 of DivX was released, the codec went commercial and the need for a free codec,
Xvid (then called "XviD", "DivX" backwards), was created. Later, Xvid replaced DivX entirely. Although the DivX codec has
[2] in the warez scene due to its commercial nature.
evolved from version 4 to 10.6 during this time, it is banned

x264
In February 2012, a consortium of popular piracy groups officially announced x264, the free H.264 codec, as the new standard for
releases,[3] replacing the previous format, which was Xvid wrapped in an AVI container. The move to H.264 also obsoletes AVI in
favor of MP4 and Matroska.

x265 (HEVC)
With the increasing popularity of online movie-streaming sites like Netflix, some movies are being ripped from such websites now
and are being encoded in HEVC wrapped in Matroska containers. This codec allows a high-quality movie to be stored in a relatively
smaller file size.

Release formats
Below is a table of pirated movie release types along with respective sources, ranging from the lowest quality to the highest. Scene
[4]
rules define in which format and way each release type is to be packaged and distributed.
 Type Label Rarity
Common; Quality issues
CAMRip
Cam[5] CAM
make this an unpopular
format
A copy made in a cinema using acamcorder or mobile phone. The sound source is the camera
microphone. Cam rips can quickly appear online after the first preview or premiere of the film. The quality
ranges from terrible to adequate, depending on the group of persons performing the recording and the
resolution of the camera used. The main disadvantage of this is the sound quality. The microphone does
not only record the sound from the movie, but also the background sound in the cinema. The camera can
also record movements and audio of the audience in the theater , for instance, when someone stands up
in front of the screen, or when the audience laughs at a funny moment in the movie.
TS
HDTS
Telesync[6] TELESYNC Very common
PDVD
PreDVDRip
A telesync (TS) is a bootleg recording of a film recorded in amovie theater, sometimes filmed using a
professional camera on a tripod in the projection booth. The main dif ference between a CAM and TS copy
is that the audio of a TS is captured with a direct connection to the sound source (often an
FM
microbroadcast provided for the hearing-impaired, or from a drive-in theater). Often, acam is mislabeled
as a telesync. HDTS is used to label aHigh-definition video recording.

WP[7]
Workprint[5] Very rare
WORKPRINT
A copy made from an unfinished version of a film produced by the studio.ypically
T a workprint has
missing effects and overlays, and often differs from its theatrical release. Some workprintshave a time
index marker running in a corner or on the top edge; some may also include watermark.
a A workprint
might be an uncut version, and missing some material that would appear in the final movie (or including
scenes later cut).
TC
Telecine[5] HDTC Fairly rare
TELECINE
A copy captured from a film print using a machine that transfers the movie from its analog reel to digital
format. These were rare because telecine machines for making these prints were very costly and very
large. However, they have recently become much more common. Telecine has basically the same quality
as DVD, since the technique is the same as digitizing the actual film to DVD. However , the result is
inferior since the source material is usually a lower quality copy reel.elecine
T machines usually cause a
slight left-right jitter in the picture and have inferior color levels compared to DVD. HDTC is used to label a
High-definition video recording.
PPV
Pay-Per-View Rip[8] Uncommon
PPVRip
PPVRips come from Pay-Per-View sources. All the PPVRip releases are brand new movies which have
not yet been released to Screener or DVD, but are available for viewing by customers with high-end TV
package deals.
SCR
SCREENER
Screener[5] DVDSCR Very common
DVDSCREENER
BDSCR
These are early DVD or BD releases of the theatrical version of a film, typically sent to movie reviewers,
Academy members, and executives for review purposes. A screener normally has a message overlaid on
its picture, with wording similar to: "The film you are watching is a promotional copy
. If you purchased this
film at a retail store, please contact 1-800-NO-COPIES to report it." or more commonly if released for
awards consideration simply, "FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION." Apart from this, some movie studios
release their screeners with a number of scenes of varying duration shown in black-and-white. Aside from
this message, and the occasional B&W scenes, screeners are normally of only slightly lower quality than
a retail DVD-Rip, due to the smaller investment in DVD mastering for the limited run. Some screener rips
with the overlay message get cropped to remove the message and get released mislabeled as DVD-Rips.
Note: Screeners make a small exception here—since the content may differ from a retail version, it can
be considered as lower quality than a DVD-Rip (even if the screener in question was sourced from a
DVD).

Digital Distribution Copy or

Downloadable/Direct Digital DDC Common
Content[9]
A digital distribution copy (DDC) is basically the same as a Screener
, but sent digitally (FTP, HTTP, etc.)
to companies instead of via the postal system. This makes distribution cheaper. Its quality is lower than
one of a R5, but higher than a Cam or T elesync.
In the warez scene DDC refers to Downloadable/Direct Digital Content which is not freely available.

R5
R5[10] R5.LINE Very common
R5.AC3.5.1.HQ
The R5 is a retail DVD fromregion 5. Region 5 consists of Russia, the Indian subcontinent, most of
Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia. R5 releases differ from normal releases in that they are a direct
Telecine transfer of the film without any of theimage processing. If the DVD does not contain an English-
language audio track, the R5 video is synced to a previously released English audio track. Then LiNEa
tag is added.[11] This means that the sound often is not as good as DVD-Rips. oTaccount for the lesser
audio quality typically present in R5 releases, some release groups take the high quality Russian or
Ukrainian 5.1 channel audio track included with the R5 DVD and modify it with audio editing software.
They remove the non-English spoken portion of the audio and sync the remaining portion, which contains
high quality sound effects and music with a previously recorded source of English vocals usually taken
from a LiNE tagged release. The result of this process is an almost retail DVD quality surround sound
audio track which is included in the movie release. Releases of this type are normally tagged AC3.5.1.HQ
and details about what was done to the audio track as well as the video are present in the release notes
accompanying the pirated movie.[12]
The other regions are:

R0 No Region Coding
R1 United States of America, Canada
R2 Europe, including Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Israel, Malaysia and South Africa
R3 Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia
R4 Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania
R5 India, Africa (except Egypt, South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho), Russia and the
Post-Soviet
states
R6 Peoples Republic of China
R7 Reserved for future use, MPAA-related DVDs and "media copies" of pre-releases in Asia
R8 Airlines/Cruise Ships
R9 Expansion (often used as region free)

DVD-Rip DVDRip/DVDMux Very common

A final retail version of a film, typically released before it is available outside its originating
region. Often
after one group of pirates releases a high-quality DVD-Rip, the "race" to release that film will stop. The
release is an AVI file and uses the XviD codec (some in DivX) for video, and commonlymp3 or AC3 for
audio. Because of their high quality, DVD-Rips generally replace any earlier copies that may already have
been circulating. Widescreen DVDs used to be indicated as WS.DVDRip.
DVDMux differs from DVDRips as they tend to use the x264 codec for video, AAC or AC3 codec for audio
and multiplex it on a .mp4/.mkv file.

DVDR,[13] DVD-Full, Full-Rip, ISO rip,

DVD-R lossless rip, untouched rip, DVD-5/DVD- Very common
9
A final retail version of a film in DVD format, generally a complete copy from the original DVD. If the
original DVD is released in theDVD-9 format, however, extras might be removed and/or the video re-
encoded to make the image fit the less expensive for burning and quicker to download DVD-5 format.
DVD-R releases often accompany DVD-Rips. DVD-R rips are larger in size, generally filling up the 4.37 or
7.95 GiB provided by DVD-5 and DVD-9 respectively . Untouched or lossless rips in the strictest sense are
1:1 rips of the source, with nothing removed or changed, though often the definition is lightened to include
DVDs which have not been transcoded, and no features were removed from the user's perspective,
removing only restrictions and possible nuisances such as copyright warnings and movie previews.
DSR
DSRip
SATRip
DTHRip
HDTV, PDTV or DSRip[14] DVBRip Extremely common
HDTV
PDTV
TVRip
HDTVRip
TVRip is a capture source from an analog capture card (coaxial/composite/s-video connection). Digital
satellite rip (DSR, also called SATRip or DTH) is a rip that is captured from a non-standard definition
digital source like satellite.HDTV stands for captured source from HD television, whilePDTV (Pure Digital
TV) stands for any SDTV rip captured using solely digital methods (HDMI). DVB rips often come from
free-the-air transmissions (such as digital terrestrial television). With an HDTV source, the quality can
sometimes even surpass DVD. Movies in this format are starting to grow in popularity . Some
advertisement and commercial banner can be seen on some releases during playback.
Analog, DSR, and PDTV sources used to be often re-encoded to 512×384 if fullscreen, currently to
640x480 if fullscreen and 720x404 if widescreen. HDTV sources are re-encoded to multiple resolutions
such as 720x404 (360p), 960×540 (540p), 1280×720 (720p), and 1920x1080 (1080p) at various file sizes
for pirated releases. They can be progressive scan captured or not (480i digital transmission or 1080i
broadcast for HD caps).

VODRip
VODRip Uncommon
VODR
VODRip stands for Video-On-Demand Rip. This can be done by recording or capturing a video/movie
from an On-Demand service such as through a cable or satellite TV service. Most services will state that
ripping or capturing films is a breach of their use policy
, but it is becoming more and more popular as it
requires little technology or setup. There are many online On-Demand services that would not require one
to connect their TV and computer. It can be done by using software to identify the video source address
and downloading it as a video file which is often the method that bears the best quality end result.
However, some people have used screen cams which effectively record, like a video camera, what is on a
certain part of the computer screen, but does so internally , making the quality not of HD quality, but
nevertheless significantly better than a Cam or e Tlesync version filmed from a cinema, TV or computer
screen.
WEBDL
WEB DL
WEB-DL (P2P) WEB-DL Extremely common
HDRip
WEB-DLRip
This is a file losslessly ripped from a streaming service, such asNetflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, Crunchyroll,
Discovery GO, BBC iPlayer, etc. This is also a movie or TV show downloaded via an online distribution
website, such as iTunes. The quality is quite good since they are not re-encoded. The video (H.264 or
H.265) and audio (AC3/AAC) streams are usually extracted from the iT unes or Amazon Video and then
remuxed into a MKV container without sacrificing quality.
An advantage with these releases is that they mostly have no network logos on screen, just like
BD/DVDRips. HDRip is an encoded version of any HD source, like BRRip, BDRip or HDTV, into a smaller
file size.

WEBRip (P2P)
WEB Rip (P2P) Common, WEB-DL is
WEBRip
WEB-Rip (P2P) preferred
WEB (Scene)
The file is often extracted using theHLS or RTMP/E protocols and remuxed from a TS, MP4 or FL
V
container to MKV.
WEBCap WEB-Cap Common, WEB-DL is
 WEBCAP preferred
WEB Cap
This is a rip created by capturing video from a DRM-enabled streaming service, such as Amazon Instant
or Netflix. Quality can range from mediocre (comparable with low quality XVID encodes) to excellent
(comparable with high quality BR encodes). Essentially, the quality of the image obtained depends on
internet connection speed and the specifications of the recording machine. WEBCaps are often labeled
as WEBRips, with a note attached by the encoder to let others know it was capped & encoded instead of
losslessly remuxed.
BDRip
BRRip
Blu-Ray / BluRay / BLURAY
Blu-ray/BD/BRRip BDMV Very Common
BDR[15]
BD5/BD9 (also known as BD25/BD50)

Similar to DVD-Rip, only the source is aBlu-ray Disc. A BD/BRRip in DVD-Rip size often looks better than
a same-size DVD rip because encoders have better source material. BDRip and BRRip dif fer in that a
BDRip comes directly from the Blu-ray source, while a BRRip is transcoded from a pre-release, usually
from a 1080p BDRip from another group. BDRips are available in DVD-Rip sized releases encoded in
Xvid or x264 (commonly 700 MB and 1.4 GB), as well as larger DVD5 or DVD9 (often 4.5 GB or larger ,
depending on length and quality) sized releases encoded in x264.
BD5 or BD9 are also available, which are slightly smaller than their counterpart DVD5/DVD9 releases.
They are AVCHD compatible using the BD folder structure, and are intended to be burnt onto DVDs to
play in AVCHD compatible Blu-ray players. More recent types, probably associated with the use of
newsgroups and cheaper storage at home, are complete Blu-ray copies (images). They are commonly
referred to as BD25 or BD50 and may or may not be remuxed (but not transcoded). (Remuxing is keeping
the original video, but eliminating audio tracks, and/or adding audio tracks in other languages.)

BD/BRRips come in various versions: the m-720p (or mini 720p), which is a compressed version of a
720p and usually weighs around 2–3 GB; the 720p, which usually weighs around 4–7 GB and is the most
downloaded form of BDRip; the m-1080p (or mini 1080p), which usually weighs a little bit more than 720p;
and the 1080p, which can weigh from 8 GB to sizes as big as 40–60 GB. There are also mHD (or mini
HD) versions available, which are encoded in the same resolution but smaller bitrate and are smaller in
size.

Release terminology
The initialism HC in some releases refers tohard coded subtitles.
Notation Network
ABC American Broadcasting Company
AMZN Amazon Studios
CBS CBS Corporation
CC Comedy Central
CW The CW
DSNY Disney Networks (Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior)
FREE Freeform
HULU Hulu Networks
iP BBC iPlayer
LIFE Lifetime
MTV MTV Networks
NBC National Broadcasting Company
NICK Nickelodeon
NF Netflix
RED YouTube Red
TF1 TF1 Network

References
1. "Video CD: American Pie"(https://archive.is/20050211094807/http://www .theisonews.com/release.php?releaseid=42
62). Archived from the original (http://www.theisonews.com/release.php?releaseid=4262) on 2005-02-11. iSONews.
2. "The XviD Releasing Standards 2005"(http://scenerules.irc.gs/t.html?id=2005_XViD.nfo).
3. "H.264 Codec Now the 'Official' Standard" (http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/03/superior-h-264-codec-gains-traction
-among-tv-torrent-groups-is-now-the-official-standard/).
4. "AfterDawn Glossary" (http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/).
5. VCDQuality Terms (http://www.vcdq.com/faq) – Lists recent video releases in the warez scene.
6. Telesync – AfterDawn: Glossary of technology terms & acronyms (http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/term.cfm/teles
ync) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120204122737/http://www .afterdawn.com/glossary/term.cfm/telesync)
2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine.
7. "What does "WP" mean?"(http://scenelingo.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/what-does-wp-mean/)
. Retrieved
2009-11-02.
8. "What is PPVRip?" (http://r5dvd.com/2009/05/14/what-is-ppvrip/)
.
9. "Music_Video_Council_Rules_v6.0-MVC"(http://scenerules.irc.gs/t.html?id=VER6_MV iD.nfo). 2011-09-23.
Retrieved 2013-01-22. ""DDC" refers to Downloadable/Direct Digital Content which is not freely available
"
10. Wes Finley-Price – CNN.com Webmaster (2009-11-09)."Pirated copy of District 9 posted online"(http://scitech.blog
s.cnn.com/2009/09/09/pirated-copy-of-district-9-posted-online/)
. scitech.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
11. "What does "R5" mean?"(http://scenelingo.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/what-does-r5-mean/)
. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
12. "Man.on.a.Ledge.2012.R5.DVDRip.XviD.AC3.5.1.HQ.Hive-CM8.nfo"(http://i.cubeupload.com/lFZi4Q.png).
Retrieved 2012-10-04.
13. "The 2009 DVDR releasing standards"(http://rules.nukenet.info/t.html?id=2009_DVDR.nfo)
.
THE.2009.DVDR.RELEASING.STANDARDS-TDRS2K9
14. "TV release rules v1.5 (2002-11-16)"(https://web.archive.org/web/20160119163526/http://rules.nukenet.info/t.html?i
d=2002_TV.nfo). Archived from the original (http://rules.nukenet.info/t.html?id=2002_TV
.nfo) on 2016-01-19.
15. "The BDR releasing standards"(http://scenerules.irc.gs/t.html?id=2010_BDr
.nfo).
THE.2010.BDR.RELEASING.STANDARDS
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pirated_movie_release_types&oldid=828368934
"

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