Games & Preservation

Backing Up PSP Games

The PlayStation Portable is the one console in this series where the backup step is legally different, and it is worth being clear about why. Its UMD discs are encrypted, so copying one means running software on the PSP that decrypts it — unlike the unencrypted cartridges and CDs the other guides cover. The ground rules still lead: own it, dump it yourself, keep it private — but read the honesty note below first.

Media
UMD (Universal Media Disc) — a small, encrypted optical disc — or a digital download.
Hardware
The PSP itself, running homebrew (custom firmware). There is no external UMD reader.
Output
.iso, or .cso (a compressed ISO).
Typical size
Up to ~1.8 GB per UMD; less as a .cso.
BIOS
Not needed. The OWL player’s PSP core is a high-level emulator.
Legal footing
Narrower than the other consoles — UMDs are encrypted (see below).
A Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP-1000) handheld
The Sony PSP. Unlike the cartridges and CDs elsewhere in this series, its UMDs are encrypted — which is what makes its backup story different. Image: Evan-Amos, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Why the PSP Is Different

Every other console in this series stores its games unencrypted: a plain reader copies the data, and a personal backup involves nothing more than reading what you own. UMDs are not like that. The disc’s data is scrambled, and only the PSP’s firmware holds the keys to unscramble it — so to dump a UMD you must run custom firmware on the console that decrypts the disc as it reads.

★

The honest version

Decrypting media you own to make a personal backup is a different act from copying someone else’s — but because a UMD is encrypted, that decryption step touches anti-circumvention rules (in the US, DMCA §1201) that the unencrypted cartridge and CD backups simply don’t. We’re not going to pretend otherwise. If you back up a UMD you own, keep the result strictly private, keep the disc, and understand that the legal footing here is narrower than for a Game Boy cartridge or a PlayStation 1 CD. This is background, not legal advice.

There is also a cleaner path that avoids the question entirely: PSP games you bought as digital downloads are already unencrypted files on your Memory Stick — those are yours to keep and re-use directly, no decryption involved.

What You Need

  • Your own PSP running homebrew (custom firmware). The console does the reading; there is no separate UMD drive for a PC.
  • A UMD dumper — a homebrew utility that reads your inserted UMD and writes it to the Memory Stick as an .iso or compressed .cso.
  • Or nothing extra, if the game was a digital purchase — copy the file you already own off the Memory Stick.

Dumping a UMD

UMD (encrypted)1PSP + custom firmwaredecrypts & reads the disc2Game.iso / .csoon your Memory Stick3OWL media libraryplays in the browser — no console needed
The UMD dump: (1) the disc is encrypted, (2) the PSP’s custom firmware decrypts and reads it — the step that sets the PSP apart legally — and (3) writes an .iso or .cso. Diagram: NDEVR.
  1. Insert the UMD you own and open the dumper from the homebrew menu.
  2. Read to the Memory Stick. The tool writes a full .iso; most can compress to .cso to save space.
  3. Copy it off the Memory Stick to your computer, then straight into your library.

ISO and CSO

A raw UMD image is an .iso. CSO is simply that ISO losslessly compressed — smaller to store and upload, and the OWL player reads it directly, so there is no reason to keep the bulkier ISO once you have a good CSO. Both are single files; there is no separate BIOS to supply.

Playing Your Backup

Upload the .iso or .cso to your OWL media library: it appears in the Games collection, and the PSP core runs it in the browser with save states synced across your devices — all inside your own end-to-end encrypted storage, visible to no one but you. That privacy is not a nicety here; for the PSP it is the whole point of rule three.