Analog Protection System

The Macrovision Analog Protection System (APS), also known as Copyguard by some people, is a videocassette and videodisc copy protection system originally developed by Macrovision Corporation. The system was developed to prevent bootlegging of original videocassettes and DVDs.

System History
The Analog Protection System was originally introduced in 1985 with the home video release of the 1984 film The Cotton Club by Embassy Home Entertainment. It was intended to replace the StopCopy protection system first introduced in 1978. By 1990, most of the major film distributors were using the APS system for their releases, with the main holdout coming from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.

List of Customers

 * 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (VHS: 1986-1998, 2004-2006; DVD: 1998-2020)
 * AIX Media Group
 * Artisan Entertainment (mainly on DVD releases and on a few blockbuster VHS releases in the 1990s)
 * Bandai Entertainment
 * Central Park Media
 * DreamWorks Home Entertainment (1998-2003)
 * FUNimation Entertainment
 * Group Productions
 * Home Vision Entertainment
 * The Lyons Group (1992-1995)
 * Media Home Entertainment (except for Anchor Bay Entertainment-era VHS releases)
 * MGM Home Entertainment (1986-1993)
 * Paramount Home Media Distribution (1990-1993, 1998-2013)
 * Pioneer Entertainment (mainly on DVD releases)
 * PolyGram Video (1997-1999)
 * Price Stern Sloan Video (1992)
 * Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (on some rare occasions on VHS: 1996-1999; DVD: 1997-2003)
 * Sony Wonder (on some 2006 releases)
 * United Learning
 * Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (1986-2007)
 * Viz Video (mainly on DVD releases)
 * Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (1986-2014, except a few rare occasions including: all LP-mode releases, some copies of the 1995 VHS of While You Were Sleeping that have no previews, and some mid-'80s short-form releases)
 * Disney Educational Productions
 * Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (1986-1993)
 * HBO Home Entertainment
 * New Line Home Entertainment (on early DVD releases, as well as on the VHS of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze and on some pre-Time Warner Turner-era VHS releases)
 * Nelson Entertainment (experimental, only during the Embassy years)
 * Zomba Video
 * Jive Records