Why Is PS4 Download Speed Slow? Here’s How To Fix It

It’s too frustrating when you try to download something on your PS4, such as a large game file, and you experience a slow download speed. It will take too long with such a low-rated speed to complete that download task if it will ever be done.

So, what are the main causes for the slow download speed on PS4? How can you work around this issue and resolve it and make your PS4 download files faster? This is what you’re going to learn in this article.

Quick Tips For Speeding Up PS4 Download

Follow these few simple guidelines to enhance download speeds on your PS4.

Your Internet bandwidth is shared among all of your devices. Downloading a file on your laptop or watching Netflix in 4K on a different device will slow down the download speed of your PS4. For optimum speed, suspend all other downloads and streaming services and allow your PS4 to absorb all available bandwidth.

Multiple PS4 downloads in the queue have a similar effect. The console must share its bandwidth, so if you’re eager to complete a particular download, you should stop your other transfers.

Lastly, do not play online games in the background while downloading as this will drastically reduce your PS4 download speed. It is also possible that the download itself will hinder your performance by creating latency spikes and connectivity issues that can put you at a disadvantage.

Causes Of PS4 Slow Download Speed

When attempting to find out why your PS4 download is slow, the first thing you have to do is to get a baseline download speed.

This baseline speed will serve as a benchmark when various techniques for boosting download and bandwidth are tested.

Many free internet programs are available to measure download speeds and bandwidth, such as Speed Test by Speedcheck – Test your internet speed, Speedtest by Ookla – The Global Broadband Speed Test, and TestMy.net Download Speed Test. Open these links on your PS4 web browser or more preferably on a computer and see what numbers you get.

So, after we have a baseline, we need to look at some possible reasons that make the download speed of your PS4 slow. We’ll also learn how to fix them.

There are a few reasons that cause your PS4 download speed to become slow, the most common are:

Reason #1: Slow System

When your PS4 system is already slow, the download speed will become slow consequently. That’s because the system’s speed is one of the major factors that determine the download speed.

Therefore, make sure first that your PS4 is running smoothly and fast. If you find out that your PS4 is slow, you must resolve this issue. Read our PS4 Slow Fix Guide for this purpose.

Reason #2: Too Fast Download Speed

If your internet speed is so high, whether it’s fiber broadband or 5G WiFi, the PS4 hardware won’t be able to handle the high download speed your connection offers. Why? Well, the download speed limit is also determined by the performance of the internal hardware components of your PS4.

1. Old and Slow CPU

The CPU, or central processing unit, is the heart of the PS4 and its main task is to translate digital codes into usable functions.

The PS4 utilizes a 1.6GHz 8-core AMD Jagua and was produced in 2013. That’s considered slow by today’s standards.

The processes which run through the CPU can overwhelm a slow CPU. As a result, this leads to slower download times as the download must wait its turn to speak with the CPU.

2. Old and Slow RAM

As for RAM (or random access memory), it is the memory pool used by all apps running on the PS4. The PS4 comes with only 8GB GDDR5 unified system memory and is capable of running at a maximum clock frequency of 2.75 GHz (5500 MT/s) with a maximum bandwidth of 176 GB/s.

That simply means your PS4 RAM cannot handle very high download speed, that’s why it slows it down to be able to process the incoming downloaded data.

What Can You Do?

As for CPU and RAM, nothing you can do, as they can’t be upgraded to more powerful alternatives. You will need to either be content with the performance they offer or just go and buy a PS5.

3. Degrading Hard Drive

When the PS4 internal hard drive ages, it becomes slow, thus it won’t store imported data as quickly as before. As a result, if you have a fast internet connection, your PS4 will slow down the download speed because the internal hard drive can’t cope with high speeds.

Worse is when the PS4 PSU no longer provides enough power to the motherboard, and the hard drive doesn’t get its full share of power to operate efficiently. That will make it even slower.

The best thing you can do in this case is to upgrade your PS4 HDD to an SSD which uses much less power than mechanical hard drives and are more reliable. This option will improve the download speed on your PS4.

Reason #3: Not Enough Free Space

When your PS4 internal storage device is almost full, or the file you’re downloading will make it so, the whole system will become slow. As a result, your PS4 download speed will go down and become slow.

Read what a full PS4 hard drive can do to the performance of the PS4 system and how it makes it slow.

So, you need to make sure that there’s plenty of free space on your PS4 hard drive after the completion of the file you’re downloading. There should be at least 10-15% of free space available after the download.

Reason #4: Slow WiFi Connection

If your Wifi connection is already slow, the PS4 download speed will slow down consequently. You have to learn how to improve your PS4 WiFi connection and make it faster in order to resolve this issue.

Reason #5: Slow DNS

Choosing the wrong DNS server for your PS4 might significantly increase your ping time or, worse still, reduce your download speed.

In reality, the majority of gamers simply use the default DNS servers that their ISP (internet service provider) assigns, and these DNS servers are almost never the quickest.

Find the best and fastest DNS for your PS4 that may boost your PS4 download speed.

Reason #6: Running Background Apps

One of the reasons that makes PS4 download speed slow is the running processes in the background. One of the quickest ways to increase download speed is to terminate any active processes. This will most likely accelerate the PS4 download speed, and it only requires a couple of button presses:

  1. Press and hold the PS button on the controller until a menu appears on-screen while the PS4 is running.
  2. Mark “Close Application(s)” and press X.

You may download goods from PSN and still play online games since Sony presumably programmed this behavior to give priority to games and other software. You would be better off killing any running games or apps and switching to anything else for a while if you need a download to finish quickly.

Some Other Helpful Solutions

Here are some tips that will help you work around the slow download speed issue of your PS4. They were tested by experts and proved that they worked.

1. Pause and Resume the Download Task

Another useful trick is to pause and resume your download. This advice may assist in speeding up the download process if your PS4 seems to be taking its time with a sizable update or new game.

Your download will begin again after a brief delay, and maybe this time it will proceed even more quickly and show a shorter anticipated download time. You should give it several tries, especially if the speed dips again.

2. download Your Files In Rest Mode

Rest Mode on the PS4 can help speed things up a little bit if you have some extra time and aren’t already using it. Before enabling rest mode as mentioned at the beginning of this post, shut any open programs for the greatest benefits.

To ensure that your download will continue while your PS4 is on standby, you must allow background internet access before putting it into rest mode. Scroll down to “Power Saving Settings” in the PS4 Settings menu and press X. Make sure “Stay Connected to the Internet” is turned on when you select “Set Features Available in Rest Mode.”

Holding the PS button on your controller while navigating to “Power” and selecting “Enter Rest Mode” will now send your PS4 into sleep mode. To check the status of your download, you must restart your PS4.


Conclusion

The PS4 download speed might be slow for varied reasons stated above. If you make sure that your PS4 system doesn’t have any performance issues and it works nicely offline, then it might be your internet connection that you must suspect.

When troubleshooting your internet connection, always try to connect your PS4 wirily to your router. If the download speed improves noticeably, it means your WiFi connection has some sort of problem.

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