PS5 Can Now Play Original PS3 Discs — Thanks to Linux and RPCS3
Sony has never offered proper backward compatibility for physical PS3 discs on the PS5. A small group of modders found a workaround in an unexpected way: by turning the PS5 into a Linux PC first, then running the RPCS3 emulator on it.
🎮 The Story
How Modders Pulled It Off
It started with PS5-Linux, a project released by modder Andy Nguyen on April 29, 2026. It exploits a Hypervisor vulnerability in older PS5 firmware to boot a full Linux desktop on a retail console. No soldering and no modchip are needed, only a software exploit. Once Linux is running, the PS5 behaves like a regular PC and can run emulators.
Modder @retropierdolnik then showed a physical PS3 copy of MotorStorm: Pacific Rift running through RPCS3 on a PS5. The RPCS3 team later confirmed that its emulator can read PS3 discs directly from a compatible Blu-ray drive, including the PS5's own drive, without dumping the disc to a file first. Digital Foundry also tested PS3 emulation on a PS5 with this setup, and some older PS3 games ran better than most people expected.
Why This Is a Big Deal
Sony's official route to PS3 games is cloud streaming through PlayStation Plus Premium, which offers a limited catalog and no support for physical discs. This method uses the PS5's own hardware to run PS3 discs people already own. For collectors who kept their PS3 libraries, it is the backward compatibility Sony never delivered.
The Catch
- Firmware limits: it only works on PS5 consoles running older firmware, in the 3.xx to 4.xx range.
- Not plug and play: you must install Linux manually, set up RPCS3, and supply your own decryption keys, because PS3 discs are encrypted.
- Compatibility varies: performance and bugs depend on the game, and not every PS3 title runs well.
- Risks: it is an unofficial, unsupported method that is not endorsed by Sony. Modding can void your warranty, and future firmware updates may close the vulnerability.
- PS2 discs: we could not find any verified report of PS2 discs running directly from the PS5 drive this way, so this article only covers PS3.
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▶ Read Previous Post: GTA 5 Browser Incident📦 This story is based on publicly reported coverage of the PS5-Linux project and RPCS3's direct disc-reading support in 2026. This is an unofficial, unsupported method and is not endorsed by Sony.