How to play PS4 games on PS5

Bloodborne — (Image credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment)

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Download PS4 games from your Library on PS5
Play PS4 discs on PS5
Use a PS4 external hard drive on PS5
PS4 to PS5 Wi-Fi transfer

PS4 games do work on PS5 and, yes, that includes PS4 discs. Sony has ensured a certain level of PS5 backwards compatibility with the console with some pretty big promises way back that '99% of PS4 games will work with PS5'. A few select games have had free PS5 upgrades as well on top of the general benefits of better hardware. So if you want to play PS4 discs and games on on PS5, here's how it all works.

Download PS4 games from your Library on PS5

download PS4 games on PS5 — (Image credit: Sony / Future)

The easiest way to access your PS4 games on PS5 is to just simply head to the Game Library tile on the far right of your home screen. Here you can see everything that you've ever played on PS4 - you can even filter by platform - and re-download anything that you want to play on PS5.

How to play PS4 discs on PS5

You can also play your physical PS4 discs on PS5 simply by inserting them into the machine (Unless you're rocking the Digital Edition console). It will need to install the game and apply any updates required, but after that it'll play and run just as it did on PS4.

Use a PS4 external hard drive on PS5

If you used a PS4 external hard drive to store games before you can just unplug the hard drive from your PS4 and plug it into your PS5. No conversion or reformatting needed. Whatever you've got on your external hard drive will just be recognised and run as soon as you plug it in.

PS4 to PS5 Wi-Fi transfer

Transfer PS4 games to PS5 — (Image credit: Sony)

There's one other way to get your PS4 games on PS5, without having to re-download them all. If you've still got your PS4 you can do a Wi-Fi transfer that copies the PS4 games internally stored on your old console (not on the external hard drive) straight onto your PS5.

To transfer your PS4 games to your PS5, head to Settings > System > System Software > Data Transfer

Then just follow the on-screen instructions. You'll need both your PS5 and PS4 turned on and connected to the internet over Wi-Fi. If they're right next to each other you can also connect the two via a LAN connection.

Wifi transfer of PS4 games to PS5 — (Image credit: Sony)

Once they're connected, you can either select all or just tick the PS4 titles you want to transfer. Then it's just a case of waiting while the transfer happens before you can get stuck in.