PS3: Play files via USB stick - what should I watch out for?
You can not only charge your controller via the two USB ports on the PS3, but also connect USB sticks and hard drives. We'll show you what you need to consider.
Tip 1: Bring the USB stick into FAT32 format
The right file system is particularly important for external hard drives. Be sure to format your devices with FAT32. You can find detailed instructions here. Unfortunately, the PS3 does not recognize other file systems.
Tip 2: The correct folder structure on the USB stick
In order for the PS3 to read your data, you have to adhere to a very specific folder structure. Therefore, create the following folders in the main directory on your USB stick. Pay attention to the correct spelling:
- "DCIM": for photos and videos from a digital camera
- "MUSIC": for your music files
- "PICTURE": for photos from your computer
- "VIDEO": for films and other video files
- "PS3": for different subfolders (see section below)
Open the "PS3" folder and create these five subfolders there:
- "BACKUP": for data backups of the PS3
- "GAME": for games from the PlayStation Store
- "SAVEDATA": for savegames and other savegames
- "THEME": for new designs of the PS3 menu
- "UPDATE": for firmware updates from the USB stick
Tip 3: Use PS3 compatible file formats
Even after countless software updates, the PS3-compatible formats are severely limited. Therefore, convert your files to one of the following formats. This works for example with the freeware program "XMedia Recode".
- For music formats, the PS3 supports either the Memory Stick audio format (ATRAC), MP3, MP4 (MPEG-4 AAC), WAVE (Linear PCM) or WMA.
- You should save your films as either MPEG-1, AVI, MPEG-2 (PS, TS), H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC, DivX, WMV or VC-1.
- With photos, on the other hand, there are almost no limits. Here the game console can handle all known formats (JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG, MPO).
Instead of connecting USB sticks to the PS3, you can also replace the internal hard drive.