PS5 Pro gets new PSSR upgrade in 2026, not AMD FSR 4 support

Sony will release a new upgraded version of its in-house PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) upscaling tech in 2026, and while it's based on AMD's FSR 4, Sony clarifies that the update won't bring direct FSR 4 support to the console.

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Previous reports indicated that AMD's new FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 would be coming to the PS5 Pro, bringing higher quality upscaling to the system. This isn't quite right, though; the PS5 Pro uses Sony's purpose-built PSSR upscaling tech, not a dedicated version of FSR 4. While it's true that the PS5 Pro's PSSR is built off of and derived from AMD's FSR 4, Sony uses its own specialized version that's trained on console-based games and content.

Sony set the record straight, reminding WCCFTech that the PS5 Pro won't be getting dedicated AMD FSR 4 compatibility.

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The PS5 Pro is built on custom RDNA architecture specifically designed to accelerate memory RAM access and enable boosted performance through PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution. Sony created its own custom neural network to run on top of the PS5 Pro's tweaked architecture, called PSSR.

The reality is that PSSR was tailor-made for the console gaming environment, which typically delivers varying resolution. AMD's FSR 4, on the other hand, will prioritize games with fixed resolution and varying frame rate.

PS5 Pro architect Mark Cerny explains how PS5 Pro PSSR works in January's big PS5 Pro tech seminar video:

PC games tend to render at a fixed resolution and frame rate that varies based on scene complexity. Gaming monitors can handle that varying frame rate.

A typical PC game scenario is rendered at fixed resolution, upscale by a fixed 2:1 ratio, display at fixed resolution.

In contrast, console games tend to have a frame rate that's fixed because they're displaying on a 60FPS TV. What varies is the rendering resolution. If the scene is complex, then the rendering resolution is lower. If the scene is simpler, the rendering resolution is higher.

Since the display resolution is usually fixed at 4K, PSSR needs to handle a continuously-changing upscaling ratio. That scenario is primarily what we designed for and trained for.