Earlier this month, Sony announced it would be ending production of physical discs by 2028. This is a devastating blow to anyone who can't download every video game they ever play, especially since Sony is shutting down some of its older digital storefronts. But it's also a blow to game archiving, which raises one very crucial question: can you rip and backup your own PlayStation discs?

The technical answer to that question is a qualified “Yes, depending on how old your games are.” And the legal answer is “No, but it's probably fine anyway.” For that to make sense, we're gonna have to go through some complicated stuff, so let's start with the legal question.

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Is it legal to rip PlayStation discs?

The rules for what's permissible will depend heavily on your region, but we'll focus on the U.S. (in other North American and European regions, the rules are somewhat similar). In the U.S., there are two general, paradoxical rules:

• You have a right to make a backup copy of any media you own. Like, say, backing up a copy of your PlayStation discs.

• You are not allowed to circumvent any method meant to prevent copies on a piece of media. Like, say, the DRM on your PlayStation discs.

Yes, this is mildly contradictory. It's a bit like saying you can read any book in the library, but only if the door to said library isn't locked—and the door is always locked. In theory, this means you only have the legal right to back up your media if the company you bought it from says you can.

In practice, it's a bit less dire than all that. It's generally not easy (or good for public relations) to go after individuals for ripping a single disc. Instead, most legal fights will center around the tools themselves. Developing (or in some cases, even linking to) ripping tools can expose the people who make them to legal liability. There are gray areas, especially when it comes to game preservation.

What that means for most people is that if your intention is to rip PlayStation discs so you can distribute copies to a bunch of other people, you could end up in legal trouble. However, if you want to make a backup copy for yourself just in case your existing disc dies, and Sony stops making more, you're probably safer. But you still take on that risk for yourself.

Can you rip or burn PlayStation discs yourself?

Whether it's possible to rip a PlayStation disc will depend heavily on which console you're talking about. In general, the older a console is, the longer archivists and other enthusiasts have been working on the problem, so the easier it's likely to be. Older devices tend to use simpler encryption, or well-known copy-protection mechanisms that are easier for modern users to circumvent. Since it's exactly that circumvention that can trip legal liability, that's also why you'll find fewer people and groups trying to do it for the latest console. It's not impossible, but likely to be harder and less accessible.

In order to rip discs, you'll need a disc drive that can read your game, and which one you'll need will depend on which console generation it came from. 

• The PS1 used CDs for its games (even though they looked a bit different, due to a custom black coating).

• PS2 games were split between CDs and DVDs.

• Starting with the PS3, and continuing with the PS4, both consoles utilized standard Blu-ray discs.

• Finally, the PS5 added support for higher-capacity Ultra HD Blu-ray discs.

As you might be able to tell from this list, the right drive for a given console generation can range from trivially easy to find, to near impossible. Plenty of desktops and even laptops have DVD drives that can also read CDs. Blu-ray drives are a lot rarer, and there's a decent chance that the only UHD Blu-ray drive you've ever interacted with is the one in your PS5—unless you happen to have one of these.

That only covers backing up the data on your disc in the first place. If you want to write it to another disc (a process called burning), you'll need a drive that doesn't just read those discs, but write them as well. In a lot of cases, these are the same—the drive linked above can both read and write Blu-rays and DVDs, for example—but if you want to burn your own discs, make sure you don't accidentally buy a read-only drive.

Can my PlayStation play my backup discs?

Making a backup disc of your games is one thing. This can be helpful for preservation, or for storing games you'll run in an emulator later. That doesn't mean you can just pop a burned disc into your old PlayStation and run them like normal, though.

For the PS3 and older, you'll likely need to mod or at least softmod the console in order to play burned discs. This process can vary widely not just by console generation, but by specific models and even down to when the specific console was manufactured. Since copy protection is an arms race, sometimes newer models block decryption methods that worked on older devices, or, conversely, sometimes new models introduce flaws that can be exploited to jailbreak a console.

Typically, the methods that modders use to jailbreak a console are security vulnerabilities, so the ones that can be patched via software updates will be. This means that even if you have a console from the right generation and manufacturing run, it could still end up impossible to crack open if it's been updated to newer software.

This situation has led to a minor cottage industry of console resellers and modders who will offer to jailbreak existing consoles, or sell specific versions of devices that can still be modded. This market can be dicey to step into, though, as there's not typically much recourse if your complaint is “I bought a PS4, but it came with too-up-to-date software."

What are my other options for playing my ripped games?

Short of modding an existing PlayStation to run burned discs—a complicated endeavor even in the best of situations—the second best way to run your backup copies of games is via an emulator. Yes, if your goal was to keep your physical media for longer, this might be a bit of a letdown, but it's also a lot easier than modding a console to run DIY discs.

Like everything in this guide, the emulators you'll need will vary by platform. There are several options for the PS1, and at least one for the PS2 through PS4. Notably, there are currently no PS5 emulators, which tends to be typical for the current generation console, for a variety of both technical and legal reasons that should be obvious if you've read this far. 

It's worth mentioning at this point that, if you're running your own backup copies in an emulator, you're probably in the legal clear (or at least not a significant enough target for most companies to bother pursuing); downloading and playing games you didn't buy yourself can put you in a much more legally dicey situation. And given the absolute state of the gaming industry, I'd discourage you from pirating any game that you could acquire legally right now.

Is this a good way to keep physical media alive?

I'll level with you at this point: Sony killing physical media sucks. I've spent this whole piece describing a process of backing up your games and making your own discs in vague enough terms and without specific links so as to be legally defensible, all because companies like Sony want to have a monopoly on making discs for their consoles. And now they don't want to do it either. It's not quite taking the ball and going home, so much as setting fire to the ball and suing anyone who tries to make a new one.

And eventually, it won't matter. Right now, the current PlayStation 5 comes with a disc drive, but if disc production ends by 2028, there's a good chance that the PS6 won't have a disc drive at all. At that point, even if you burned a copy of a game to a disc, there'd be nothing to run it. We're approaching an era where creating your own physical media might be little more than hobbyists cosplaying a bygone era, like a hard drive disguised as a VHS tape.

But this preservation process still matters. Physical media lets games continue to work even after servers shut down; they bring games to places that might not have robust internet access; and they help ensure that lesser-known games don't disappear into the oblivion of time.

Maybe Sony will change its mind and keep making physical media; maybe it won't. If it does give up on discs, maybe it will at least let the enthusiasts who want to keep the practice alive have a go at it without having to look over their legal shoulder. A guy can dream. Until that happens, keep circulating the tapes. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

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