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Which Blu-ray Drives Actually Read PS3 Discs? (2026 Buyer's Guide)
2026-09-07 · Buyer's guide
Affiliate disclosure: This guide contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
RPCS3 can now boot PS3 games directly from a physical disc, which we covered in our piece on the announcement. It is a great feature. It also has a hardware requirement that stops most people cold.
Your optical drive probably cannot read a PS3 game disc. Not "reads it slowly" or "reads it with errors." Cannot see it at all.
This guide explains why, and which drives are worth your money if you want to make this work.
Why Most Drives Fail
A PS3 game disc is a Blu-ray disc, but it is not a normal one. Sony used a disc structure and an encryption scheme that consumer playback drives were never designed to expose. A drive can be perfectly happy playing a Blu-ray movie and still be completely blind to a PS3 game.
Two consequences follow from that.
A DVD drive is a hard no. Not a maybe, not a firmware problem. The wrong laser and the wrong mechanism. If your machine has a DVD burner in it, this feature is not available to you.
Most Blu-ray drives are also a no. Only a subset of models can read the raw disc structure RPCS3 needs. This has nothing to do with the drive being fast, new, or expensive. It is down to the chipset inside and the firmware on it.
RPCS3 maintains a public list of drives that people have actually confirmed working. The brands that appear on it are LG, ASUS, Samsung, Lite-On, Sony, HP, Plextor and BenQ. Drives that are not on the list occasionally work if they happen to use a Mediatek chipset with a +6 read offset, but treat that as a lottery ticket rather than a buying strategy.
Read This First
The RPCS3 compatible drive list is community-sourced and it moves. Models get added when someone confirms a new one. Models quietly become irrelevant when they go out of production, which a lot of them already have.
Check the live list at rpcs3.net/quickstart before you buy anything. Not this article, not a forum post from two years ago. The official list is the only thing that is current, and it costs you thirty seconds.
Everything below is a guide to what class of drive to look for and what the shopping reality is in 2026. Match a specific model against the live list before you pay.
Best External Drive: LG Slim USB Blu-ray
If you are pairing this with a Steam Deck, a laptop, or any machine without a drive bay, an external slim USB Blu-ray drive is the answer.
The LG portable Blu-ray writers are the models that come up most often in confirmed-working reports, specifically the BP50NB40 and the WP50NB40. They are small, they are still sold new, and they connect over USB rather than needing an internal SATA port.
✓ Pros
- • Still in production, so you can buy new rather than hunting eBay
- • USB connection works with a Steam Deck, laptop or mini PC
- • Small enough to live in a drawer next to a dock
- • LG models dominate the confirmed working list
✗ Cons
- • Slim drives are slower than full height internal units
- • Bus power draw is a real issue on a handheld, see below
- • Model numbers change frequently, so verify against the live list
- • Build quality is lighter than a desktop drive
Best Internal Drive: LG Full Height SATA
If you have a desktop with a 5.25 inch bay, this is the better buy. Internal drives are faster, they take power from the PSU instead of a USB port, and the LG internal line is the most heavily represented on the confirmed list.
The models that come up repeatedly are the BH16NS40, BH16NS48, BH16NS55 and the WH16NS40. The BH16NS55 is the one people specifically asked to have added to the list because it was still available in shops while the older units had gone out of production.
✓ Pros
- • Faster and quieter than a slim external drive
- • Powered from the PSU, so no USB current worries
- • The BH16NS55 is one of the few still easy to buy new
- • Cheapest route if you already have a desktop with a spare bay
✗ Cons
- • Needs a desktop with a 5.25 inch bay and a SATA port
- • No use at all for a Steam Deck or laptop
- • Some listings ship older revisions with different firmware
- • Bare drives often come without a SATA cable
The ASUS Alternative
ASUS drives also appear on the confirmed list, and they are worth knowing about because stock on the LG models comes and goes. The BC-08B1LT is the model most often cited, and the BW-16D1HT is the current internal ASUS unit people reach for.
One warning that shows up in forum reports: the older ASUS BC-08B1LT has been described as needing a specific Windows version to behave, which makes it a poor first choice for a Linux handheld setup.
Buying Used: The Older Confirmed Models
A lot of the drives on the confirmed list are simply not made any more. If you are shopping second hand, these are names worth watching for:
- Lite-On iHBS112 and DH-401S
- Sony Optiarc BD-5300S
- BenQ BR1000
- Samsung SH-B083L
- LG BH14NS40, UH12NS30, WH14NS40, BU40N
Two honest cautions about going this route. Optical drives are mechanical and they wear out, so a fifteen year old unit is a gamble on a laser you cannot inspect. And drive firmware revisions matter, which means two units with the same model number on the box do not always behave the same way.
If you can buy a currently produced model that is on the list, do that instead. Used is for when you cannot.
The Power Problem on a Handheld
This is the part that catches Steam Deck owners, and almost nobody mentions it.
Slim external Blu-ray drives are motorised. Spinning a disc up and holding it there draws meaningfully more current than a flash drive does, and many of these units ship with a Y-cable that expects two USB ports precisely because one is not always enough.
A Steam Deck has one USB-C port. That port is also how the Deck charges. Running a bus-powered optical drive off it, while gaming, while the Deck is trying to power itself, is asking a lot.
The fix is a powered dock or a powered USB hub. Something that takes wall power, feeds the Deck, and feeds the drive, so neither is fighting the other. Our cooling and charging docks guide covers the options, and the Steam Deck OLED accessories guide has dock picks that fit this use case.
Treat this as a desk setup. A handheld, a dock, a drive and a wall socket. It is not something you take on a train.
How to Tell If Your Existing Drive Works
Before you buy anything, check what you already have. It costs nothing.
- Find your exact model number. On Windows it is in Device Manager under DVD/CD-ROM drives. On Linux,
lsscsiorlsblkwill name it. The number on the box is not always the number the system reports, so trust the system. - Search that model against the RPCS3 quickstart list. Exact match only. A BH16NS40 and a BH16NS55 are different drives.
- If it is on the list, try it. Add the drive in RPCS3's VFS games settings and see whether a PS3 disc appears in the game list.
- If nothing appears, the drive cannot read the disc. There is no setting that fixes this. It is the hardware.
Worth saying plainly: none of this risks anything. A drive that cannot read a PS3 disc simply does not see it. You are not going to damage the disc or the drive by trying.
What You Still Need Beyond the Drive
Buying the right drive is one of three requirements, so make sure you know about the other two before you spend.
You need Sony's PS3 firmware, which they publish free as a system update file, installed inside RPCS3.
You need a matching disc decryption key in RPCS3's data/redump folder. The drive cannot generate this. It comes off your own disc, read using a PlayStation 3 you own. Our news piece explains this in full, and it is the single most common reason a correctly bought drive still does not boot a game.
And you need an x86 machine. RPCS3 has no ARM or Android build, so this is Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Legion Go, Claw and desktop territory only.
FAQ
Can any Blu-ray drive read PS3 game discs?
No. PS3 game discs use a disc structure that most consumer drives cannot expose, so a drive can play Blu-ray movies perfectly and still be unable to see a PS3 game at all. RPCS3 keeps a community-confirmed list covering LG, ASUS, Samsung, Lite-On, Sony, HP, Plextor and BenQ models. Check your exact model number against that live list before buying.
Will a DVD drive work for PS3 discs?
No, and there is no workaround. PS3 games are on Blu-ray media, and a DVD mechanism physically cannot read them. If your PC has a DVD burner, you need a different drive entirely.
What is the best external Blu-ray drive for a Steam Deck?
An LG portable USB Blu-ray writer is the usual recommendation, with the BP50NB40 and WP50NB40 appearing most often in confirmed working reports. They are still in production, which matters because a lot of the confirmed drives are not. Plan on running it through a powered dock rather than straight off the Deck's single USB-C port.
Do I need a powered dock to use a Blu-ray drive with a handheld?
In practice, yes. Optical drives draw real current to spin a disc, many slim units ship with a two-port Y-cable for exactly that reason, and a Steam Deck has one USB-C port that is also its charging port. A powered dock or hub that takes wall power removes the problem entirely.
How do I check whether my drive is compatible?
Get the exact model number from your operating system rather than the box, then search it against the drive list on rpcs3.net/quickstart. If it is listed, add the drive in RPCS3's VFS games settings and see whether a disc shows up in your game list. If nothing appears, the drive cannot read the format and no setting will change that.
Is buying a used Blu-ray drive a good idea?
It is a reasonable fallback, not a first choice. Many confirmed models such as the Lite-On iHBS112, Sony Optiarc BD-5300S and BenQ BR1000 are long out of production, so used is often the only way to get them. The catch is that optical drives are mechanical, lasers wear out, and firmware revisions vary between units with the same model number.
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