Can You Play PS3 Games on a PS4? What You Should Know

Many PlayStation consoles are backward compatible with previous consoles. The PS5 can play PS4 games. The PS2 was able to play PS1 games. But what about the PS? Can the PS4 play PS3 games? Can you play PS3 games on a PS5? This wikiHow article answers all your questions.

Can you play PS3 games on PS4 or PS5?

You can only play PS3 games through the Classic Catalog. You cannot use physical PS3 discs to play PS3 games on PS4 or PS5. However, if you have a PS Plus Premium subscription, you can access the Classic Catalog that has many PS1, PS2, and PS3 games available for download or streaming.

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How can I play PS3 games on PS4 or PS5?

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PS3 games can only be played on PS4 or PS5 via the Classic Catalog. You'll need a paid subscription to PlayStation Plus Premium. PS Plus Premium is the top-tier subscription platform of PS Plus. It gives you access to a catalog of PlayStation 4 and 5 games, as well as access to the Classic Catalog, which has a collection of PS1, PS2, and PS3 games available for download or cloud-streaming.
- PS Premium starts at $17.99 per month. You can also opt for the $49.99 quarterly option, or $159.99 annual option.^{[1]
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- These prices are as of April 2024. Sony has announced that PS Plus prices may go up in the future.^{[2]
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How do I play Classic Catalog games?

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The Classic Catalog can be accessed in the PS Plus menu option. Once you subscribe to PlayStation Plus Premium, select the PS Plus option on the PlayStation menu screen. Select the Classic Catalog. Select a game you want to play. Then you can select the option to download the game or stream it. Once you download or stream it, the game will be added to your Game Library. You can access it on the menu screen or in your game library.
- If you decide to unsubscribe to PS Plus Premium, you will no longer be able to access the Classic Games catalog.

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Does the Classic Catalog have all PS3 games?

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The Classic Catalog has many of the popular hits from the PS1, PS2, and PS3 eras, but it does not have a full collection of all games for any of these systems. You can see a list of all available Classic Catalog games here. Some games may be added or removed on a month-by-month basis.

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Are PS3 games available on any other subscription tiers?

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No, the Classic Catalog is not available on the Extra or Essential tier. However, Extra does have a catalog of many popular PS4 and PS5 games. You also may be able to buy a remastered PS4 or PS5 version of a few PS3 games.
- You can also play PS3 games using an emulator on your computer. If you really want to play PS3 games without a PS3, the safest way to do so is to use a PS3 emulator, such as RPCS3. You’ll need to follow the setup instructions carefully. You’ll also need a pretty high-end gaming PC, as emulating PS3 hardware takes a lot of computational power. Then you can download PS3 ROMs from various websites on the internet and use RPCS3 to play PS3 games on your computer.
- RPCS3 doesn’t support playing PS3 games from a game disc. If you want to play your own games, you will need to jailbreak your PS3 and use homebrew software to dump your PS3 data onto your PC. You can also use a compatible blu-ray drive to dump game data from a disc onto your PC, but advanced knowledge may be required.^{[3]
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Are Classic Catalog games available for purchase?

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You may be able to find some PlayStation 3 games available for purchase on the PlayStation Store without a subscription to PlayStation Plus Premium. These are typically the PS4 version or a remastered/remade version of the game.

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Why can’t the PS4 or PS5 play PS3 games?

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The PS3 uses a Cell processor, which was unique for the time. It allowed for parallel processing and better multimedia handling. It allowed the PS3 to process multiple tasks at once. For the PS4 and PS5, Sony opted for a more conventional AMD x86_64 processor, which is not capable of emulating games designed for PS3 hardware. Emulating the PS3 hardware requires computational power that exceeds what the PS4, or even PS5 is capable of.^{[4]
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Is PlayStation Now still around?

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When the PlayStation 4 originally launched, PlayStation Now was a streaming service that allowed you to stream classic PS2 and PS3 games on the PS4 and PC. This service has since been discontinued and replaced with the PlayStation Plus Premium tier.

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Can a jailbroken PS4 or PS5 play PS3 games?

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If you really want to play PS3 games on a PS4 or PS5, there are ways to get it to work on a jailbroken console with a Linux payload. This requires a lot of technical know-how, and it’s only possible on PlayStation consoles running specific firmware versions. If your PS4 or PS5 has the latest firmware update, it is not possible to jailbreak your console as of now. Jailbreaking also carries significant risk to your system and will void your warranty (not to mention you can be banned from playing online). If you do manage to get PS3 games working on a hacked PS4 or PS5, the hardware is still an issue. Don’t expect PS3 games to run smoothly on a jailbroken PS4 or PS5. You are likely to experience significant lag, bugs, and crashes.^{[5]
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Can I play a ps4 disc on a ps3?

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No, you cannot as it will not work.

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How do you connect a PS3 disc to a PS4 console?

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You can't do that; you need to buy the games on PS now to play PS3 games and also be connected to the internet.

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Can I play a PS3 disc on a PS4?

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No. Playstation Now is the only way to play Playstation 3 games currently. Some PS3 games are not on the Playstation Now service currently, just so you know.

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