Sony PSP-1000 handheld photographed by Evan Amos and published on Wikimedia Commons under a permissive license. Used as a representative PlayStation Portable system image for the PPSSPP emulator profile; it is not a PPSSPP screenshot.

PPSSPP

PLAYSTATION PORTABLE EMULATOR

PPSSPP

A mature open-source emulator for PlayStation Portable games, with high-resolution rendering, broad controller support, and reliable save-state and texture workflows.

Jump to download ↓Jump to setup guide ↓

PlayStation PortablePRIMARY SYSTEM

2012PROJECT BEGAN

Open sourcePROJECT MODEL

WHY IT MATTERS

Portable games on modern displays

PPSSPP preserves the PSP library while making it practical on current PCs, phones, and handheld PCs. Its renderer can clean up the original image without losing the portable feel.

BEST FOR

Portable play and visual upgrades

Use it for a clean first run, then explore texture replacement, anisotropic filtering, widescreen patches, and per-game control layouts.

Gameplay from Rocky Balboa on PSP.

The people behind PPSSPP

Long-term work by Henrik Rydgård and contributors

PPSSPP grew from a focused PSP emulation project into a cross-platform community effort. Contributors maintain CPU and GPU emulation, platform ports, controller support, and compatibility fixes in public repositories.

What PPSSPP supports

PSP ISO, CSO, and homebrew software from your own legally dumped media.
Vulkan, OpenGL, Direct3D, and Metal rendering backends depending on platform.
Save states, memory-stick saves, rewind, frame limiting, and remappable controls.
Texture replacement, rendering resolution changes, and per-title settings.

Download and availability

OFFICIAL DOWNLOADS

PPSSPP release page

Choose the current build for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, or another supported platform from the project site.

Open official downloads ↗

SOURCE CODE

Development repository

Read release notes, report issues, and inspect the emulator source on GitHub.

View PPSSPP on GitHub ↗

Broken or missing download? Projects move and archives disappear. If a link no longer works, please contact Retro Replay so it can be verified and updated.

PPSSPP setup guide

Before you begin: PPSSPP does not provide commercial PSP games. Prepare a PSP system software environment and game dumps from hardware you own.

Download PPSSPP from the official site or your platform’s trusted package source.
Open the app once to create its folders, then choose a writable location for memory-stick data.
Copy your own PSP ISO or CSO files into a clearly named games folder and browse to it from the app.
Start with the default backend and 2x rendering resolution; raise it only after confirming stable frame pacing.
Map a controller, enable texture filtering if desired, and save a per-game configuration for titles with special needs.
Use in-game saves for normal progress and keep periodic backups of PPSSPP’s memory-stick folder.

ROM reminder: PPSSPP does not include commercial games, BIOS files, or copyrighted downloads. Use software dumped from your own PSP media.

Sources and further reading

Release log

Selected releases and changes. The weekly emulation roundup covers the wider build log.

September 28, 2026 — September 28 build (Development build): Preserves the partial final block when loading files through the disk cache. Official release and source ↗ · Weekly roundup →

Detailed guides and tutorials

Explore step-by-step guides for PPSSPP as they are published.

Use PPSSPP on Android

An Android ARM64 Libretro build exists for PPSSPP. Run the core through RetroArch for Android; the standalone desktop download and Android core may have different menus and features.

Emulates: PSP.

Verified Android core build ↗ · Browse all Android emulators →