Whether you're gaming or streaming your favorite movies, the PS5's 4K features can enhance your viewing experience tenfold.
If you're new to it, 4K (also known as Ultra HD or UHD) is a format that shows about four times as many pixels as a regular HD television. In other words, it's incredibly high quality, and can give your favorite games and movies much more detail.
Both versions of the PlayStation 5 – the Standard and Digital – can play games and stream movies in 4K. The Standard edition can also play 4K Blu-ray discs.
Here's everything you need to know about 4K on the PS5.
The PS5 4K Viewing Experience
4K is becoming incredibly popular, due to its low cost compared to how high quality it is. No matter what you're playing, 4K will let you see more detail in a higher resolution, along with better framerates.
Related Article Module: The 5 best 4K TVs in 2021 for sharp, colorful images and reliable streaming
However, to take full advantage of 4K, you'll need certain equipment. Watching in 4K will require you to have a 4K television. You should also make sure you've connected your PS5 to the TV using a 4K-ready HDMI port, which may be labeled as such on your device. As for the HDMI cord itself, try to stick to the one that came with your PS5.
If you don't have the right setup, your PS5 will still play in 4K - you just won't be able to see any difference.
How to enable 4k on your PS5
4K should be enabled on your PS5 by default. But if it's been turned off, here's how to enable it.
1. Turn on your PS5 and click the Settings icon in the top-right corner.
Open your PS5's settings. William Antonelli/Insider
2. Scroll down and select Screen and Video.
Head to your "Screen and Video" menu. William Antonelli/Insider
4. Enter the Video Output tab and select Resolution.
5. A resolution will be set, likely at Automatic. You can force it into 4K by switching it to 2160p.
You can manually set the resolution here. William Antonelli/Insider
6. On the Screen and Video page, scroll to the HDR tab. This will automatically be off if your TV can't support it. If you have 4K capabilities, toggle it on to ensure you're getting the best 4K experience.
Select either option here. William Antonelli/Insider
How to fix your PS5 if it won't play 4K
If you have the right equipment, your PlayStation 5 should play in 4K. But even so, you can still run into issues.
If you get the message, "When displaying 4K HDR content at 60 Hz, the color format will be YUV422 or YUV420 instead of RGB due to HDMI 2.0 transfer speed limitations," it's because your HDMI cord doesn't support 4K HDR. Purchase a proper HDMI cord, ideally one that can carry at least 48 Gbps.
You'll need a 4K-capable HDMI cord. Amazon
Some users have experienced crashes and screen blackouts while playing in 4K. This can be fixed by going back to the Video Output page and turning the 4K Video Transfer Rate to -1 or -2.
