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    shadPS4

    Also known as shadPS4 emulator, shadps4-emu

    shadPS4 is an open-source PlayStation 4 emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS. It is not a PS5 emulator.[1] It can run games such as Bloodborne and Red Dead Redemption,[2] and on 10 October 2026 its community compatibility list had 397 reports rated playable out of about 2,276.[3]

    Editor reviewedUpdated Gaming
    Key facts

    shadPS4 is a free, open-source emulator that runs PlayStation 4 games on Windows, Linux and macOS. It is written in C++.[1] It emulates the PS4 only, not the PS5. PS5 projects such as SharpEmu describe themselves as leaving PS4 emulation to shadPS4.[4] It is part of the PS5 emulation crash course.

    Status in October 2026

    shadPS4 can run well-known PS4 games such as Bloodborne, Dark Souls Remastered and Red Dead Redemption.[2] The project still warns that it is early in development and users should not expect a flawless experience.[5] The main download is the emulator core, which has no graphical interface; most users are pointed to a separate front end called QtLauncher.[6]

    The latest numbered release, v0.19.0, came out on 2 October 2026. Its notes credit a large batch of GPU fixes with making more games playable.[7] The release also changed core memory and signal handling, added HEVC video decoding and updated the shader recompiler.[8] On macOS the emulator needs macOS 26.0 or later and does not support Intel Macs.[9]

    Compatibility by the numbers

    The community-run shadPS4 Game Compatibility tracker rates each game from “nothing” through “boots”, “menus” and “in-game” to “playable”. Playable means a game can be played without any major issue.[10] On 10 October 2026 the tracker’s open reports broke down as follows:[3]

    StatusOpen reports
    Playable397
    In-game600
    Menus333
    Boots355
    Nothing591

    These are reports, not unique games, because the tracker allows one report per operating system for the same game.[3]

    History

    shadPS4’s GitHub repository was created in October 2022, and the project is licensed under the GPL-2.0.[11] Its first release, v0.0.1, came on 29 September 2023.[12] From v0.1.0 in July 2024 the project shipped numbered releases every one to three months, reaching v0.19.0 in October 2026.[13] By 10 October 2026 the repository had about 33,000 stars on GitHub.[11]

    Firmware and piracy rules

    shadPS4 can load some PS4 firmware modules, which the project says must be dumped from the user’s own legally owned console.[14] The compatibility project accepts reports only from unmodified game dumps and removes any report involving pirated games.[15] For the legal background, see Is console emulation legal?.

    Questions readers ask

    Can shadPS4 run PS5 games?

    No. shadPS4 describes itself as a PlayStation 4 emulator. PS5 projects such as SharpEmu say they focus only on the PS5 and leave PS4 emulation to shadPS4.[1][4]

    What games does shadPS4 run?

    The project says it can run games including Bloodborne, Dark Souls Remastered and Red Dead Redemption. On 10 October 2026 its compatibility tracker had 397 open reports rated playable.[2][3]

    Does shadPS4 need PS4 firmware?

    It can load some PS4 firmware modules, which the project says must be dumped from your own legally owned PS4.[14]

    Does shadPS4 work on a Mac?

    Only on Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 26.0 or later. Intel Macs are not supported.[9]

    Is shadPS4 finished?

    No. The project warns that it is early in development and users should not expect a flawless experience.[5]

    Sources

    Each numbered claim is a statement we checked against the sources listed with it. Status shows how well established it is.

    1. [1]

      shadPS4 describes itself as an early PlayStation 4 emulator for Windows, Linux and macOS, written in C++. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    2. [2]

      The shadPS4 project says the emulator can run games including Bloodborne, Dark Souls Remastered and Red Dead Redemption. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    3. [3]

      On 10 October 2026 the shadPS4 compatibility tracker had 397 open reports rated playable, 600 in-game, 333 menus, 355 boots and 591 nothing, about 2,276 in total; a game can have one report per operating system. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    4. [4]

      SharpEmu is an experimental PS5 emulator written from scratch in C#; it focuses only on the PS5 and leaves PS4 emulation to shadPS4. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    5. [5]

      The shadPS4 project warns that the emulator is early in development and users should not expect a flawless experience. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    6. [6]

      The main shadPS4 download is the emulator core without a graphical interface; end users are pointed to a separate QtLauncher front end. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    7. [7]

      shadPS4 v0.19.0, released on 2 October 2026, focused on a large number of GPU fixes that its developers said made more games playable. confirmedas of 2026-10-02

    8. [8]

      Besides GPU fixes, shadPS4 v0.19.0 changed core memory and signal handling, added H.265/HEVC video decoding support and updated the shader recompiler. confirmedas of 2026-10-02

    9. [9]

      shadPS4 requires at least macOS 26.0 on Macs and does not support Intel Macs. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    10. [10]

      The shadPS4 compatibility list rates games from "nothing" through "boots", "menus" and "in-game" to "playable", where playable means a game can be played without any major issue. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    11. [11]

      shadPS4 is open source under the GPL-2.0 licence; its GitHub repository was created in October 2022 and had about 33,000 stars on 10 October 2026. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

      • shadPS4 repository and README · shadPS4 project (GitHub) · README header; repository metadata (created 2022-10-24, 33,341 stars on 2026-10-10) (retrieved 2026-10-10)
    12. [12]

      shadPS4 published its first release, v0.0.1, on 29 September 2023. confirmedas of 2023-09-29

      • shadPS4 releases · shadPS4 project (GitHub) · Release v0.0.1, 2023-09-29 (retrieved 2026-10-10)
    13. [13]

      shadPS4 shipped numbered releases roughly every one to three months from mid-2024, from v0.1.0 in July 2024 to v0.19.0 in October 2026. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

      • shadPS4 releases · shadPS4 project (GitHub) · Release list: v0.1.0 (2024-07-01) through v0.19.0 (2026-10-02) (retrieved 2026-10-10)
    14. [14]

      shadPS4 can load some PS4 firmware modules, which the project says must be dumped from the user's own legally owned PS4. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    15. [15]

      The shadPS4 compatibility project accepts reports only from unmodified game dumps and removes reports involving pirated games. confirmedas of 2026-10-10

    Revision history (1)
    1. Page created.

    Created Oct 10, 2026. Last reviewed by an editor on Oct 10, 2026. Next scheduled review: Jan 10, 2027.

    Cite this page

    "shadPS4." ContentLora, updated Oct 10, 2026. https://contentlora.com/wiki/shadps4

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