PS5 emulation Guide · November 2026
PS5 emulator. Real. Ready.
Yes, a PS5 emulator for PC already exists. KytyPS5, AnyPS5 and SharpEmu are free, their code is public, and they boot PS5 games, some of them all the way to gameplay. But all three are experimental, none of them comes with games, and you need files dumped from your own console. Here is what actually runs, what you need, and how not to fall for a fake.
Spot the fakesLatence is not affiliated with any of these projects and does not distribute any emulator. The only software links on this page go to the projects' official pages.
The gist in 30 seconds
KytyPS5, AnyPS5 and SharpEmu are real projects, free and open source. None of them runs every game.
You need your own games, dumped and decrypted from your console. In practice, that means a modded PS5.
The lists are tester reports. A game marked "In game" can run at 1 FPS.
GitHub clones, PCSX5: what counts is the account that publishes and the file's hash.
Contents
Is there a PS5 emulator for PC?
Yes. As of November 5, 2026, three serious projects boot PS5 games on PC: KytyPS5, AnyPS5 and SharpEmu. All three are experimental, and none of them runs "PS5 games" in general.
All three are free and publish their code on GitHub under the GPL-2.0 license. They don't work the same way. KytyPS5 and SharpEmu run the game inside a program that stands in for the console. AnyPS5 turns the game into a Windows, Linux or macOS program before you play.
- What they do. Boot PS5 games, and some of those reach gameplay, according to tester reports. A few 2D and indie games hold 60 FPS, on specific PCs.
- What they don't do. Give you games, or run the big exclusives smoothly. On KytyPS5's list, God of War Ragnarök, The Last of Us Part I and II and Spider-Man 2 don't boot. Gran Turismo 7 holds about 22 FPS at 4K on an RTX 5090, with a fork built for that one game.
- What stops almost everyone. You need a decrypted copy of your own games, dumped from your console. For most players, none of this is usable today.
If you read about PS5 emulation in early October, part of it is already out of date. "Two projects" is incomplete: SharpEmu belongs on the list. AnyPS5 has removed its compatibility list, the one that only had Dreaming Sarah on it. KytyPS5 ships slightly fewer builds per day than in mid-September and no longer posts a weekly recap. This page gives the state of things on November 5, 2026, and will be updated as the projects move.
KytyPS5, AnyPS5 and SharpEmu: the three serious projects
All three publish their code, dated releases and game reports. KytyPS5 and SharpEmu translate the game while you play; AnyPS5 converts it beforehand. Every other project is much smaller, or stalled.
KytyPS5 ("Kyty PS5")
What it is. A C++ project for Windows, Linux and, experimentally, macOS. Since July 31, it describes itself as a PS5 "translation layer" rather than an emulator; its website still says emulator. It is built on a heavily modified version of Kyty, an older emulator, and credits shadPS4 as a reference.
How it works. It launches the game, handles the calls the game would normally send to the console's system, and translates the shaders for your graphics card, to Vulkan 1.3, while you play. It uses none of the PS5's own system modules and has no plans to.
Where it stands on November 5, 2026. About 10,700 stars and 114 contributors, with one lead developer, Nmzik, behind about 1,550 of the 1,930 commits. More than 550 builds since the first one on July 19: about 6 a day on average over the last 30 days, down from roughly 7.5 between mid-September and early October, and about 5 a day last week (anywhere from 2 to 11). Official builds include an updater that downloads from GitHub and checks the file's SHA-256 hash. The weekly recap has stopped: the last one covers September 28 to October 4. The project itself warns that anything can change from one build to the next, with crashes and graphics glitches.
Official addresses. Repository: github.com/KytyPS5/KytyPS5. Website and compatibility list: kytyps5.github.io.
AnyPS5
What it is. Not an emulator, and it says so. It is a tool that converts a PS5 game's executable into a Windows, Linux or, more recently, macOS program. The converted game runs like any other program, with no emulator running next to it.
How it works. The converter rewrites the executable into the target system's format. The game then relies on system libraries the project has rewritten, and its shaders are still translated while you play, with a cache. New since early October: a converter that runs in your browser and keeps your files on your device. It only accepts executables that are already decrypted, up to 256 MiB per game, and it warns that a successful conversion does not mean the game will run.
Where it stands on November 5, 2026. About 51,400 stars, about 29,700 commits (2,437 on October 7) and 411 contributors. Latest release: v0.1.4, on October 30. Its progress page counts 10,126 system functions implemented out of the 37,932 the project knows about, or 27%, including 3,300 added in seven days. That percentage covers the functions the project has found so far, not every function in the PS5.
Its own warning. A converted game is an ordinary program. It runs with your Windows account's permissions, without the sandbox it would have on the console. The project recommends converting only files you trust.
Official addresses. Repository: github.com/boykopovar/AnyPS5. Website and converter: boykopovar.github.io/AnyPS5.
SharpEmu
What it is. An experimental PS5 emulator written in C#, for Windows and Linux, with an experimental PS4 mode. It is the oldest of the three: its repository dates from March 11, 2026. The Mac version has its own repository, sharpemu-mac.
How it works. Like KytyPS5, it translates the game while it runs, and it executes the CPU instructions natively. Its README says the current focus is accuracy and groundwork, not game-by-game compatibility.
Where it stands on November 5, 2026. About 6,500 stars, about a hundred contributors, three releases in a month (October 8, October 18, then v0.0.7 on November 1). Its list holds about a hundred PS5 reports, just over forty of them "Playable". It is the only one of the three that warns about impostors: only sharpemu.app and the links in its repository are official, and any other site, account or donation page is not.
Official addresses. Repository: github.com/sharpemu/sharpemu. Website: sharpemu.app.
The three side by side
| Project | Method | Systems | Latest release | Published compatibility | Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KytyPS5translation layer | Translates while you play | Windows, Linux, macOS (experimental) | Several a day, latest Nov. 5 | 416 games, 240 "In game" | ≈ 10,700 |
| AnyPS5converter | Converts the game before you play | Windows, Linux, macOS programs | v0.1.4, Oct. 30 | No list: 379 threads, one per game | ≈ 51,400 |
| SharpEmuemulator | Translates while you play | Windows, Linux (Mac separate) | v0.0.7, Nov. 1 | ≈ 100 reports, 40+ "Playable" | ≈ 6,500 |
Checked on GitHub on November 5, 2026; these numbers change every day. All three are free, GPL-2.0 licensed, and ship no games. Stars measure popularity, not quality. The lists don't use the same scale: don't compare 240 with 40.
The other projects, in one line each
- Prosperity: a "low-level" PS4 and PS5 emulator that runs games with the console's original system modules, which you have to supply too. It shows Dead Cells (PS5) in game.
- prosper: a PS5-to-PC "compatibility layer", with a development log that records what renders, scene by scene (Kena's menu, the Tomb Raider I mansion), and no full playthrough documented.
- PS5PCEM: written in Zig, for Windows and Linux. Version 0.3.6, from October 30, adds an experimental DirectX 12 renderer; Vulkan stays the default.
- RPS5E: written in Rust, for Linux and Windows, first public alpha on October 26.
- RPCSX: an experimental PS4 and PS5 emulator for Linux, with no code pushed since June 2026.
- KytyPS5 forks: KytyPS5-GT7, dedicated to Gran Turismo 7, on hold since October 30; Cosmo/KytyPS5, an Xbox Series port with a Direct3D 12 renderer; KytyPlus, experimental, which states it makes no claim about playability.
Android, Mac and shadPS4 get their own sections further down.
Which games run on a PS5 emulator, and at what FPS
In the published reports, a few 2D and indie games hold 60 FPS. The big games that reach gameplay run at roughly 1 to 25 FPS in the tests below, with crashes. Every number only holds for one game, one build and one PC.
What the statuses mean
KytyPS5 rates every game on a four-step scale:
- Doesn't boot: nothing shows up, not even the logo.
- Logo: the logo appears, nothing more.
- Main menu: the menus work, gameplay doesn't.
- In game: gameplay starts and responds to the controller, but bugs and performance problems may remain.
KytyPS5 has no "playable" status. "In game" means you reach gameplay, not that you can finish the game. SharpEmu uses a five-level scale that includes "Playable": the game can be finished with minor issues or none. AnyPS5 no longer has a list: each game has its own discussion thread, with no shared status. So don't compare numbers from one list to another.
Above all, these lists are tester reports. On KytyPS5, 5 of 446 reports are approved by a maintainer: GTA V, Octopath Traveler II, Saros, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter and Unbound: Worlds Apart.
KytyPS5's list: 416 games, 240 "In game"
As of November 5, the official list covers 416 games: 240 "In game", 65 "Main menu", 61 "Logo" and 50 "Doesn't boot". It holds 446 reports, so most games have been tested only once. A few names, at their best reported status:
GTA V (PS5), Cyberpunk 2077, Gran Turismo 7, Astro Bot, Marvel's Wolverine, Silent Hill f, Resident Evil 2, 3, 4 and 7, Red Dead Redemption, Persona 5 Royal, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Elden Ring Nightreign, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Minecraft.
Demon's Souls, Horizon Forbidden West, Saros, Tekken 8, UFC 5, MLB The Show 26.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Silent Hill 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Returnal, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Black Myth: Wukong, Hogwarts Legacy, Ghost of Yōtei, Fortnite.
God of War Ragnarök, The Last of Us Part I and II, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding 2, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves, Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Mortal Kombat 1.
The list lags behind the developers' work. In early October, messages from the KytyPS5 team said Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Silent Hill 2 were in game on the main branch. The list still has both at "Logo": its reports on those two games date from August 8 and October 8. One more reason never to read it as a ranking.
SharpEmu: the "Playable" games are mostly 2D and indie
Its list holds about a hundred PS5 reports, just over forty of them "Playable": Hades, Hades II, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Tomb Raider I-III and IV-VI Remastered, Blasphemous 2, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Quake, DOOM + DOOM II, Minecraft, God of War Sons of Sparta, and more. Most were tested on a single PC (Ryzen 7 5800X3D and RTX 4070 Super), and most of these reports give no FPS. The report form asks testers to confirm they used a dump of a game they own.
AnyPS5: one thread per game
Since its list was removed, AnyPS5 tracks each game in a "Game bring-up" thread: 379 of them as of November 5, with no shared status. A few examples, written by contributors: Hades II playable once the shader caches are warm; Animal Well in game and playable at 60 FPS; Persona 5 Royal reaching gameplay; Outer Wilds, opening scene only; Ghost of Tsushima, logo and menus. The figure from its old list, Dreaming Sarah at 60 FPS on a GTX 1050 Ti, is no longer published by the project.
Published FPS, with the test PC
| Game | Tool and build | Test PC | Published result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gran Turismo 7v1.710, at 4K | KytyPS5-GT7 fork | Ryzen 9 7950X3D, RTX 5090, Windows 11 | 22 to 23 FPS in a race (5 laps, 11 AI cars), rarely below 21; 10 to 20 FPS in the garage. The author still advises against using it to play. |
| Astro's Playroom | KytyPS5, Oct. 6 build | Ryzen 5 5600, RX 6700 XT | 5 to 8 FPS in levels, about 25 FPS with the camera pointed away. |
| Persona 5 Royal | KytyPS5 on Linux, Oct. 10 | Ryzen 7 5700X, RTX 3070 | About 20 FPS. |
| Trails in the Sky1st Chapter | KytyPS5, Sept. 9 build | Core i7-14700KF, RTX 4070 | About 3 FPS in game, 60 in the menu. |
| GTA VPS5 version | KytyPS5, Oct. 6 build | Core i5-13600K, Arc B580 | No number: good performance once the early shader stutter is over, crashes in some cutscenes. |
| GTA VPS5 version | KytyPS5 on Linux, Sept. 24 | Ryzen 5 5600, RX 9070 XT | Performance mode: starts and is playable, but laggy. Fidelity mode: doesn't load. |
| Ghost of Yōtei | SharpEmu, commit c7bbb093, Oct. 12 | Ryzen 7 9800X3D, RTX 5070 | "Ingame" at about 1 FPS, wrong colors. |
| Outer Wilds | SharpEmu, commit 59837dd, Oct. 7 | Ryzen 7 9800X3D, RTX 5070 | Reaches gameplay, 10 to 30 FPS, unstable. |
| Hollow KnightVoidheart Edition | SharpEmu, commit 5052fae, Oct. 14 | Ryzen 5 7500F, RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB | Playable at 60 FPS. |
| Hades II | AnyPS5, thread updated Oct. 11 | Ryzen 7 7800X3D, RTX 4090, Linux | At the 60 FPS cap in the hub, P95 frametime of 16.7 ms, with warm shader caches. |
| Animal Well | AnyPS5 | Ryzen 5 5600XT, RTX 4070 SUPER, Windows 11 | In game and playable at 60 FPS. |
| Outer Wilds | AnyPS5, Nov. 4 | Ryzen 9 7950X, RX 6650 XT, Linux | Opening scene only; waking up takes 268 s with a cold cache, 120 s with a warm one. |
Tester reports published in the official repositories (and in the fork, for GT7), checked on November 5, 2026. These are neither Latence measurements nor official numbers from the projects. A figure only holds for that game, that build and that PC.
Progress doesn't always go forward. Between October 31 and November 4, KytyPS5 users reported regressions: Astro Bot about 20 FPS lower on recent builds, and Gran Turismo 7 down 10 to 15 FPS with the November 4 build (Ryzen 7 7800X3D, RTX 4090). SharpEmu's October 18 release also reverted the change that got Ghost of Yōtei and Ghost of Tsushima in game, and the Ghost of Yōtei report in the table was made on that change. A report on one build tells you nothing about the next.
Other numbers circulate with no source you can check: Gran Turismo 7 averaging 58 FPS on a "KytyPS5 Native", Marvel's Wolverine near 30 FPS on a "KytyPS5-Frank". On November 5, we found no public repository for either version. As things stand, neither the numbers nor the software can be verified: don't download anything offered to you under those names.
PS5 emulator requirements: what you actually need
A recent PC is not enough. Above all, you need your own PS5 games, dumped and decrypted from your console, which in practice takes a modded console. No project provides games. For most people, that rules it out today.
Your PC
- For KytyPS5: Windows 10 (version 1803 or later), a current Linux distribution or an Apple Silicon Mac; a 64-bit x86 processor (through Rosetta 2 on a Mac); a graphics card that supports Vulkan 1.3, with up-to-date drivers. The project gives no minimum RAM and no specific GPU model.
- For AnyPS5: a CPU with the same instruction set extensions as the PS5's: AVX2, FMA, F16C, BMI1, BMI2, LZCNT and MOVBE. On an Intel CPU, an option rewrites some AMD-specific instructions, but not the code the game generates while it runs, so those games need an AMD CPU. And according to the project, that option hasn't been verified on a single game yet.
- In practice: the published tests use recent PCs, up to an RTX 5090 for Gran Turismo 7 at about 22 FPS.
A "PS5-equivalent" PC isn't enough either. Sony lists 8 Zen 2 cores at up to 3.5 GHz and RDNA 2 graphics rated at 10.3 TFLOPS. But emulating takes more than running the game on the console itself: on top of the game, the shaders have to be translated and the whole system replaced.
The game files
None of the projects provides games, firmware or keys. They all expect files you extracted yourself:
- KytyPS5 wants games you dumped yourself: a folder with eboot.bin and sce_sys, or a .zar archive.
- AnyPS5 only accepts a decrypted executable, with its sce_sys and sce_module folders. Its tool refuses a file that is still encrypted.
- SharpEmu asks for the eboot.bin of a legally obtained game.
Getting those decrypted files out of your console, in practice, means a modded PS5. None of the projects explains how, and Sony's license agreement forbids circumventing the console's encryption (see the legal section). There is nothing to download elsewhere to skip this step: downloading a game you don't own is piracy. On KytyPS5's repository, someone who asked where to download games was told by a community member not to ask that there.
Where you stand
That's most players. You can follow the projects on their official pages without downloading anything.
Sony's official app streams games from your own console to your PC, Mac or phone. The PS5 runs the game: it isn't emulation. Some PlayStation games also come out officially on PC.
Look up the status of your exact game, the build tested and the test PC. Expect crashes, and changes from one build to the next.
The account that publishes it, the exact address, the file's hash: that's the next section.
Fake PS5 emulators: how to tell the real ones apart
Fake PS5 emulators are out there: GitHub clones that imitate KytyPS5 and AnyPS5, and sites like PCSX5 that promise 60 FPS without showing any code. To spot the real thing, check three things: the account that publishes it, the exact address, and the hash GitHub shows.
A PS5 emulator downloads from its official repository. Nowhere else.
KytyPS5: github.com/KytyPS5/KytyPS5. AnyPS5: github.com/boykopovar/AnyPS5. SharpEmu: github.com/sharpemu/sharpemu. A different account, a name that's almost the same, a link posted in a comment or under a video: that is not the official version.
The GitHub clones
On October 28, 2026, NordVPN's team described fake GitHub repositories imitating AnyPS5 and KytyPS5, sometimes spelled "Kyttyps5". According to press coverage (Engadget, IGN):
- they get you to download a ZIP file containing a Windows program;
- the program quits if it runs in a virtual machine, with less than 2 GB of RAM or without a real graphics card, in other words on the kind of PC used to analyze malware;
- otherwise, it adds exclusions to Microsoft Defender, then launches a final program that NordVPN believes is an info stealer;
- about two minutes later, it deletes its own files.
As of November 5, we found no report on NordVPN's own site, and no victim count, malware name or list of repositories has been published. So there is no point hunting for a list of fakes: learn to recognize the real ones.
Traps also turn up inside the real repositories. In mid-October, a user reported in KytyPS5's official repository that someone had spammed the issues section with malware, backed by bots posting from dozens of accounts. A link posted in a discussion is not an official link, even on the right page.
Spot the real one in three checks
The address starts exactly with github.com/KytyPS5/, github.com/boykopovar/ or github.com/sharpemu/. One extra letter, another account or a fork: not the official version.
Download from the Releases tab of the official repository. Not from a link in an issue, a comment, a video description or another site.
GitHub shows the SHA-256 of every published file. Compare it with the file you got, using Get-FileHash in PowerShell. If it doesn't match, delete the file.
A ZIP file is not a red flag: the real projects ship as ZIPs too. Mirror sites like Uptodown, which repost KytyPS5, are not fakes, but they aren't official either: the KytyPS5 team asks people to always use the GitHub releases.
An antivirus alert doesn't settle it
Real builds trigger alerts too. In October, an antivirus flagged a "trojan" in an official KytyPS5 archive: a contributor checked that its SHA-256 matched the published release, and the lead developer confirmed a false positive. On the AnyPS5 side, the Brave browser blocked the official converter based on a machine-learning detection, and a converted game was flagged by 11 of 71 engines on VirusTotal, again through generic rules.
So an alert doesn't prove a file is fake, and no alert doesn't prove it's real: fakes are built to slip past analysis. What settles it is the account and the hash. And if a file asks you to turn off your antivirus or add an exclusion, the answer is no.
PCSX5 and sites like it
PCSX5 (the pcsx5.org site) presents itself as an experimental PS5 emulator for Windows and macOS and claims many games reach 60 FPS or more. On November 5, its page showed no source code, no named games, no compatibility list and no people behind it. Yet that day it ranked fourth on Google in the US for "ps5 emulator pc", and Google even suggests the question "Is the PCSX5 legit?"
One detail you can check without downloading anything: its download page lists two "SHA1" hashes that are 32 characters long, while a SHA-1 hash has 40. Same kind of mismatch on RPCS5 (rpcs5.com): the SHA-256 shown for its 38 MB Windows archive is the hash of an empty file.
There is also a GitHub repository called pcsx5, under another account, with no established link to the site; it says itself that no game is playable. And on Android, the "PS5 Emulator" apps in the stores describe something else in their own listings: a PSP emulator, or remote play.
Already ran a fake?
Four steps, in order:
- Open Windows Security › Virus & threat protection › Manage settings › Add or remove exclusions. See a folder you never added? Remove it from the list and disconnect that PC from the internet.
- Run the offline scan: Scan options › Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) › Scan now. The PC restarts.
- From another device, change your passwords, starting with your email, sign out of every other session on each account and turn on two-factor authentication.
- If in doubt, reinstall Windows.
Why PS5 emulation is possible (and why it takes so long)
The PS5 has an AMD CPU and GPU from the same families as PC parts, so much of the game's code can run directly. But the shaders have to be translated for your graphics card and the console's whole system rewritten: that's where the work is.
The CPU: same family, not the same machine
Sony lists an x86-64 AMD Ryzen "Zen 2" CPU with 8 cores and 16 threads, at up to 3.5 GHz. That's the same family as PC processors: the game's instructions can run directly, without being translated one by one. As long as your CPU has the same extensions. AnyPS5 lists AVX2, FMA, F16C, BMI1, BMI2, LZCNT and MOVBE, and some AMD-specific instructions have to be rewritten for Intel.
"Same family" doesn't mean "it just runs." A PS5 executable won't launch on Windows. Its modules have to be loaded, its calls wired to the system, the console's libraries reimplemented and its graphics commands translated, as the prosper project explains in detail. The PS5's operating system itself is derived from FreeBSD, according to a security research talk (Hardwear.io, 2023): it isn't Windows.
The GPU: shaders to translate
The graphics are AMD "RDNA 2", up to 2.23 GHz and 10.3 TFLOPS according to Sony. Shaders, the small programs a game sends to the graphics card, are written for that hardware. Your card can't read them as they are. KytyPS5 recompiles them to SPIR-V for Vulkan 1.3, working from AMD's public manual for the RDNA 2 instruction set.
Hence the stutter at the start: each shader has to be translated the first time it shows up. The approved GTA V report on KytyPS5 describes good performance once that stutter is over. On AnyPS5, Hades II only boots with the shader caches already warm. On PC too, shader compilation is one of the causes of stutter: see unstable frametime.
The system: everything to rewrite
The game constantly asks the console for services: files, saves, sound, controller, network, fonts. Each one has to be replaced. AnyPS5 has implemented 10,126 of the 37,932 functions the project knows about (27%). KytyPS5 uses none of the console's system modules and has no plans to. Prosperity takes the opposite approach: it runs games with the original system modules, so you need to have them.
That's why "AnyPS5 doesn't emulate anything, so it runs at full speed" is a false shortcut. Its libraries and its shader translation work throughout the game, and your CPU needs the Zen 2 extensions.
PS5 emulator for Android, Mac and iPhone: what exists
On Android, two real projects exist, in alpha, and nothing is mature. On Mac, KytyPS5, AnyPS5 and SharpEmu each have an experimental version. On iPhone, nothing. To play your PS5 games on these devices, the official route is still PS Remote Play.
Android
- CapyPS5: created on October 22, 2026, built on KytyPS5 and on FEX, an x86-64 code translator. Its README calls it an alpha: few games work, and many don't run at full speed. Android 12 or later, an arm64 chip, Vulkan 1.3, 12 GB of RAM recommended, and tested only on one Android handheld, the AYN Odin 3 (Adreno 830 graphics). Latest release: v0.0.4, on October 28. The GitHub repository is a mirror; the README also points to the capyps5.org site.
- sharpdroid: an app that runs the Linux version of SharpEmu on Android, through FEX. Its version 8, from October 20, reports Dead Cells going from about 7 to 29 FPS on the title screen, on an underclocked Odin 3. Touch controls are still missing.
The "PS5 emulator APK offline" downloads and the "PS5 Emulator" apps in the stores are something else: their own listings describe a PSP emulator or remote play. Even an app tied to a real project can be just a controller: AnyPS5 Remote, from the AnyPS5-ARM project, turns your phone into a DualSense for a game running on a Mac.
The official route is PS Remote Play (Android 9 or later): it streams games from your own console, so you need a PS4 or a PS5.
Mac
- KytyPS5 runs on Apple Silicon Macs through Rosetta 2, with MoltenVK for Vulkan. It's experimental: the project says a small number of games have been verified in game on those Macs.
- AnyPS5 can produce a macOS program (x86-64, which runs under Rosetta on Apple Silicon), and the converter on its own runs on a Mac.
- SharpEmu moved its Mac version into a separate repository, sharpemu-mac, created on October 7.
- AnyPS5-ARM, from a different author, adapts AnyPS5's method to ARM Macs.
iPhone, Xbox, Steam Deck
On iPhone and iPad, none of the three projects has a version. Only PS Remote Play (iOS 14 or later) lets you play your games there, streamed from your console. On Xbox, the Cosmo/KytyPS5 fork ports KytyPS5 to Xbox Series consoles with a Direct3D 12 renderer. On Steam Deck, there is no official page: KytyPS5 only documents how to build it on Bazzite and similar systems.
shadPS4 and Kyty: not for your PS5 games
shadPS4 is a PS4 emulator, and its team turned down PS5 support. Kyty, the project KytyPS5 grew out of, only ran PS5 homebrew and is no longer updated.
shadPS4 is active: version 0.21.0 on October 30, 2026, about 34,000 stars, for Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD. But it is a PS4 emulator. On May 2, 2026, Nmzik submitted a first PS5 support patch to it ("Initial PS5 support"). The pull request was closed the same day, without being merged, with this reply: "As a team, we don't have any interest in supporting PS5 emulation." On June 9, the KytyPS5 repository was created; Nmzik is now its lead developer, and KytyPS5 credits shadPS4 as a reference.
Kyty, by InoriRus, describes itself as an early-stage PS4 and PS5 emulator: a few simple PS4 games, and PS5 homebrew, not retail games. Its last release dates from August 2022, its last code push from May 2024. KytyPS5 is a heavily modified version of it, so when people search "kyty ps5" or "kyty emulator", they usually mean KytyPS5.
psOff, another name that comes up, is a PS4 emulator; its public repository has been archived since October 2024, with no PS5 side.
Is a PS5 emulator legal?
Under US case law, an emulator is not illegal in itself. Downloading a game you don't own is. And dumping your own game means getting around the console's encryption, which US law restricts separately, so it is legally uncertain. This section is not legal advice.
In the US: what's settled
- Sony v. Connectix (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, February 10, 2000) held that copying the PlayStation BIOS during reverse engineering, to write an emulator, was fair use, and that the emulator itself, the Virtual Game Station, infringed no copyright. Sony then bought that emulator in 2001 and discontinued it.
- Sony v. Bleem (same court, May 4, 2000) was about PlayStation screenshots in comparative ads: fair use as well. Bleem shut down in November 2001, worn down by legal costs despite winning.
- Downloading a game you don't own is copyright infringement. There's no debate there.
- Sony's PS5 system software license agreement forbids using tools that bypass or circumvent the console's encryption. It lets Sony disable the console's use online or offline, and deny warranty or repairs.
In the US: what isn't
- Connectix and Bleem are about emulators of the original PlayStation, decided in 2000. They don't cover downloading games or breaking a console's protection.
- The DMCA handles circumvention separately. Section 1201, added by the DMCA in 1998, bans, in principle, circumventing a measure that controls access to a work. It has an interoperability exception, §1201(f), under strict conditions.
- Section 117 lets the owner of a copy of a program make certain copies, such as one needed to run it, or one for archival purposes only.
- Neither section, on its own, gives you a general right to decrypt your PS5 games. Since a dump means getting around the console's encryption, whether dumping your own game is legal is uncertain.
In the EU
- EU law (the Software Directive, 2009/24/EC, article 6) allows decompiling a program when that is necessary for interoperability, under strict conditions. In France, for example, that is article L. 122-6-1 of the Intellectual Property Code: you must have the right to use the program, stick to the parts you need, and not build a substantially similar program.
- French law punishes circumventing a technical protection measure (article L. 335-3-1), and the private copy exception doesn't clearly cover it: in France, dumping your own game is legally uncertain.
- The EU Court of Justice ruled in 2014 (Nintendo v. PC Box) that console protection measures can be protected by copyright law, as long as they are proportionate. National courts decide case by case.
- We found no French or EU court decision on a PS5 emulator.
The three projects, for their part, ship no games, firmware or keys, and ask you to use files obtained legally.
Steam on PS5 and PS5 Linux: the opposite of emulation
"Steam on PS5" is not a PS5 emulator. It's the reverse: booting Linux on a hacked PS5 to use it as a PC. It doesn't run PS5 games, and it doesn't work on an up-to-date console.
The ps5-linux loader exploits flaws in the console's hypervisor, since patched by Sony, to boot Linux from a USB drive or a dedicated SSD, on the original PS5, the Slim and the Pro. From there, you can run Steam and emulators. A ready-to-use image based on Bazzite, a Linux that boots into Steam's interface like a Steam Deck, came out on October 20, 2026.
As of November 5, this loader only works on certain firmware versions, up to 13.60, and its FAQ answers no to supporting 14.00 and later. Sony's current firmware is 14.22, and you can't downgrade: an up-to-date PS5 can't run this Linux. There's no dual boot either (you have to rerun the exploit every time) and no sleep mode; the internal SSD is left untouched.
Hacking your console breaks Sony's license agreement, which lets Sony block the console online and deny warranty or repairs. This page gives no steps and no links to these tools.
PS5 emulation in 2026: the timeline
From March to November 2026: three serious projects, a no from shadPS4, the first attempts on Android, and the first fakes.
- SharpEmu is created
The oldest of the three serious projects.
- The ps5-linux loader is created
Linux on a hacked PS5: the opposite of emulation.
- shadPS4 turns down the PS5
Nmzik's "Initial PS5 support" pull request is closed the same day.
- KytyPS5 is created
First build published on GitHub on July 19.
- KytyPS5 calls itself a "translation layer"
Its README replaces "emulator" with "translation layer".
- AnyPS5 is created
Its first releases, v0.1.0 and v0.1.1, arrive on September 28.
- PS5 firmware 14.00
The Linux loader doesn't support it.
- KytyPS5's last weekly recap
It covers September 28 to October 4; none since.
- KytyPS5-GT7 fork
Dedicated to Gran Turismo 7, on hold since October 30.
- AnyPS5 v0.1.3 and a Bazzite image for PS5
Steam on a hacked PS5, still stuck at firmware 13.60.
- CapyPS5 on Android
An open-source alpha built on KytyPS5.
- NordVPN's warning
Fake AnyPS5 and KytyPS5 repositories spread a suspected info stealer.
- AnyPS5 v0.1.4
The same day, shadPS4 releases version 0.21.0, still PS4 only.
- SharpEmu v0.0.7
Its third release in a month.
- State of play on this page
KytyPS5 passes 550 builds, AnyPS5 about 29,700 commits. Sony firmware: 14.22.
The real questions.
Is there a real PS5 emulator for PC?
Yes. As of November 5, 2026, three serious projects, free and open source, boot PS5 games on PC: KytyPS5 and SharpEmu, which are emulators, and AnyPS5, which is a converter. All three are experimental, with crashes, bugs and very uneven FPS. None of them runs every game, and none of them provides games.
What is the best PS5 emulator?
There is no honest ranking. The compatibility lists are kept by testers and don't use the same scale: KytyPS5 stops at "In game", SharpEmu has a "Playable" status, and AnyPS5 no longer has a shared list. Look at the report for your exact game instead, with its build and the test PC.
Is PCSX5 legit?
Nothing suggests it is. As of November 5, 2026, the PCSX5 site publishes no source code, no game names, no compatibility list and no team members, and its download page shows "SHA1" hashes that are 32 characters long, while a SHA-1 hash has 40. The real PS5 projects, KytyPS5, AnyPS5 and SharpEmu, publish their code on GitHub. Don't install it.
What is Kyty PS5, and is it the same as Kyty?
When people search "kyty ps5", they are usually looking for KytyPS5, written as one word: an active, free, open-source project that calls itself a PS5 translation layer for Windows, Linux and macOS. It is built on a heavily modified version of Kyty, an older PS4 and PS5 emulator that only ran PS5 homebrew and hasn't been updated since May 2024. Official address: github.com/KytyPS5/KytyPS5.
Can you play PS5 games on PC without a PS5?
Not really. Emulation is experimental and still needs games dumped from your own console. Without emulation, Sony's official PS Remote Play app streams games from your PS5 to your PC or Mac, so the console is the one running the game. Some PlayStation games also come out officially on PC.
Where do you download a PS5 emulator, and where do the games come from?
Download only from the official GitHub repositories: github.com/KytyPS5/KytyPS5, github.com/boykopovar/AnyPS5 and github.com/sharpemu/sharpemu, from their Releases tab. As for games, no project provides any, nor firmware or keys. They expect files you dumped and decrypted yourself from your console, which in practice takes a modded PS5. Downloading a game you don't own is piracy, and a site that offers the emulator and the games together does not come from these projects.
What are the PC requirements for a PS5 emulator?
KytyPS5 needs Windows 10 (version 1803 or later) or Linux, a 64-bit x86 processor and a Vulkan 1.3 graphics card with up-to-date drivers. AnyPS5 needs a CPU with the same extensions as the PS5's (AVX2, FMA, F16C, BMI1, BMI2, LZCNT, MOVBE), and some games need an AMD CPU. In practice, the published tests use recent PCs: Gran Turismo 7 holds about 22 FPS at 4K on an RTX 5090, with a fork built for that game.
Is a PS5 emulator legal?
Under US case law, an emulator is not illegal in itself (Sony v. Connectix, 2000). Downloading a game you don't own is illegal. Dumping your own game means getting around the console's encryption, which the DMCA restricts separately, so it is legally uncertain, and Sony's license agreement forbids it. This is not legal advice.
Is there a PS5 emulator for Android?
Yes, but nothing mature. CapyPS5, built on KytyPS5, is an alpha released on October 22, 2026: few games work, 12 GB of RAM is recommended, and it has only been tested on one Android handheld. sharpdroid runs SharpEmu on Android. The "PS5 emulator" APKs and store apps describe something else, like a PSP emulator or remote play. To play your PS5 games on your phone, use PS Remote Play, streamed from your console.
What about Mac or iPhone?
On Apple Silicon Macs, KytyPS5 runs experimentally through Rosetta 2, AnyPS5 can produce macOS programs, and SharpEmu has a separate Mac version. On iPhone and iPad, none of the three projects has a version: only the PS Remote Play app lets you play your games there, streamed from your PS5.
Can a PS5 emulator run GTA 6 or GTA 5?
GTA 6: no. No project mentions it or runs it, and a fan discussion titled "Road to GTA VI" on KytyPS5's repository is not an announcement. GTA 5 (the PS5 version) does reach gameplay in KytyPS5 according to tester reports, with stutter at the start, crashes in some cutscenes, and a Fidelity mode that doesn't load in one of the tests.
My antivirus flags KytyPS5 or AnyPS5. Is it a fake?
Not necessarily, and your antivirus alone can't tell: real KytyPS5 and AnyPS5 builds have already triggered alerts that their teams identified as false positives. What matters is whether the file came from the Releases page of the official account, and whether its SHA-256 matches the one GitHub shows. Never turn off your antivirus or add an exclusion for an emulator: that is exactly what the fakes do.
Does shadPS4 run PS5 games?
No. shadPS4 is a PS4 emulator. On May 2, 2026, its team turned down a proposal for PS5 support, saying it had no interest in PS5 emulation. The author of that proposal, Nmzik, is now the lead developer of KytyPS5.
Is Steam on PS5 an emulator?
No, it's the opposite: you boot Linux on a hacked PS5 to use it as a PC, with Steam. It doesn't run PS5 games. As of November 5, 2026, it only works up to firmware 13.60: an up-to-date PS5, on 14.00 or later, can't do it, and you can't downgrade. Sony's license agreement forbids this kind of hack.
Real. Or nothing.
Three official repositories, one account that publishes, one hash shown by GitHub. Everything else, however high it ranks on Google, still has to prove itself.
Update log
- : published. Sources checked the same day.
Sources
- KytyPS5, repository and README: description, requirements, macOS, game files, builds (Releases).
- KytyPS5, compatibility list: 416 games, statuses, approved reports.
- KytyPS5, weekly updates thread: last recap, week of September 28.
- KytyPS5, game reports: Astro's Playroom, Persona 5 Royal, Trails in the Sky, GTA V; reported regressions.
- KytyPS5, security: antivirus false positive, malware spam in the issues.
- KytyPS5-GT7, Gran Turismo 7 measurements: RTX 5090, 4K.
- AnyPS5, repository and README: method, disclaimer, expected files, releases.
- AnyPS5, usage guide: required CPU, Intel option, security.
- AnyPS5, converter and progress page: 27% of known functions.
- AnyPS5, technical debt: Intel option not verified on any game.
- AnyPS5, game threads: Hades II, Animal Well, Outer Wilds; false positives from Brave and VirusTotal.
- SharpEmu, repository and README and releases: v0.0.7, the October 18 revert.
- SharpEmu, compatibility list and reports for Ghost of Yōtei, Outer Wilds, Hollow Knight.
- CapyPS5 and sharpdroid, version 8: Android.
- shadPS4, "Initial PS5 support" pull request: turned down on May 2, 2026.
- Kyty, by InoriRus: scope and dates.
- PlayStation Blog, PS5 hardware specs: Zen 2, RDNA 2.
- Hardwear.io USA 2023, talk on PS5 security: operating system derived from FreeBSD (cited without a link: console hacking research).
- Warning about the fake repositories: Engadget, IGN via Yahoo, The IT Nerd (October 28 and 29, 2026).
- PCSX5 and RPCS5 pages: read on November 5, 2026, cited without a link.
- PS Remote Play and current PS5 firmware.
- PS5 system software license agreement, version 2.0.
- Sony v. Connectix and Sony v. Bleem, US Copyright Office summaries.
- US Code, title 17: section 117 and section 1201.
- Légifrance: article L. 122-6-1 and article L. 335-3-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code.
- EU Court of Justice, Nintendo v. PC Box, press release of January 23, 2014.
- ps5-linux loader and Bazzite image for PS5: READMEs read on November 5, 2026, cited without a link (console modding tools).