shadPS4 is a free and open-source emulator for the PlayStation 4. It supports Windows, Linux and MacOS. As of November 2025, shadPS4 can emulate only certain games to varying degrees of support.
Development of shadPS4 was started by George Moralis in October 2022. Moralis previously worked on the PS1 emulator PCSX and founded the PS2 emulator PCSX2, going by the user name "shadow". At the time, PS4 emulation had not advanced very far, with most existing emulators being only able to run 2D games reliably. On July 2, 2024, shadPS4 version 0.1.0 was released, being able to launch Sonic Mania, One Piece: Unlimited World Red and some other 3D games such as Resident Evil: Origins Collection and Persona 5. A major factor contributing to its support for more 3D games was the addition of a shader recompiler to its architecture. By July 31, it could run Red Dead Redemption at 25 frames per second, and it was able to launch Dark Souls. By December 7, 2024, version 0.4.1 was in development and allowed games based on Unity to run on Windows, which meant many new games were now supported. On December 25, the major version 0.5.0 was released including further improvements. On July 6, 2025, version 0.10.0 was released with major improvements in games such as The Last Guardian and Driveclub. Version 0.10.0 also included a new feature called readbacks, which emulates the PlayStation 4's shared
What is shadPS4?
shadPS4 by shadps4-emu is open-source Windows software in the emulators category. It ranks 17th by popularity among emulators in this catalogue. It is written in C++. Besides Windows, it is available for Linux and macOS.
Installation and requirements
The publisher provides Portable installers for 64-bit Windows. It runs without installation (portable).
Updates and version history
The current version is 0.20.0, released on October 14, 2026. The version history goes back to December 24, 2025: 8 releases, all linked to the official files. The last update is less than a month old.
Popularity and file types
The source code on GitHub (shadps4-emu/shadPS4) has 33,855 stars. Wikipedia has an article about it in 3 of our languages. Similar programs include PCSX2, SharpEmu and BizHawk.
Project description on GitHub: “PlayStation 4 emulator for Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD written in C++”
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Open source: the code can be inspected and built by anyone
- Portable: runs without installation
- Updated in the last two months
- Also runs on Linux and macOS
- Large user base
Cons
- No native ARM64 build
In short: shadPS4 is an open-source emulator tool for 64-bit PCs.
Is shadPS4 safe to download?
- The file is served by github.com, the publisher’s own domain
- The download link uses HTTPS
- A SHA256 hash is published, so you can verify the file:
D5CDC55C57E85E5FE44FF867B420246DC832077356D943CCC43C5D950C878B37· Open the VirusTotal report for this hash - The link has not been checked yet
- The source code is public
- ExeAtlas does not host, wrap or modify installers
Related guide: How to check a file’s SHA256 hash on Windows
Recent versions
All 8 versions ›| Version | Date | Size | Files |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.20.0Latest | October 14, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
| 0.19.0 | October 2, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
| 0.18.0 | August 18, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
| 0.17.0 | July 30, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
| 0.16.0 | June 1, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
| 0.15.0 | March 17, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
| 0.14.0 | February 7, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
| 0.13.0 | December 24, 2025 | — | 64-bit ZIP |
Install from the command line
Silent install ›winget install --id shadps4-emu.shadPS4 -eProgram files (.exe): shadps4.exe
Related guide: How to use winget: install and update apps
Also for other systems
flatpak install flathub net.shadps4.shadPS4Information
- Publisher
- shadps4-emu
- Category
- Emulators
- Licence
- GPL-2.0
- Price
- Free
- Source code
- github.com/shadps4-emu/shadPS4
- Written in
- C++
- Content rating
- All ages
- Requires
- Windows 11 / 10
- Architecture
- 64-bit
- Installer
- Portable
- Other platforms
- Linux, macOS
- Version
- 0.20.0
- Released
- October 14, 2026
- Added to the catalogue
- January 29, 2026
- Versions listed
- 8
- GitHub stars
- 33,855
- GitHub forks
- 2,831
- Website
- shadps4.net
- winget ID
- shadps4-emu.shadPS4
Ratings and reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to rate it.
Alternatives to shadPS4
See all ›-
Open source11.1K ↓ -
Open source50 ↓ -
BizHawk2.11A core-based, multi-system emulator written in C#. Provides nice features for casual gamers such as full screen, and controller/joystick support in addition to full rerecording and debugging tools for all system cores.Open source4.3K ↓ -
SameBoy1.0.4SameBoy is an open source Game Boy (DMG) and Game Boy Color (CGB) emulator, written in portable C.Other licence712 ↓ -
Open source1.1K ↓ -
Open source★ 10K - Open source64K ↓
-
Open source★ 4.2K
Frequently asked questions
Is shadPS4 free?
Yes. shadPS4 is open-source software under the GPL-2.0 licence.
Is shadPS4 safe to download?
The download comes from github.com, which belongs to the publisher; ExeAtlas does not host or change the file. Compare its SHA256 hash with the one shown here, or open the VirusTotal report for that hash.
How do I install shadPS4 with winget?
Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run the winget command shown on this page. winget downloads the official installer and checks its SHA256 hash before running it.
Does shadPS4 run on ARM (Windows on Arm)?
There is no ARM64 build; Windows 11 on Arm can run the 64-bit version through emulation.
Where can I download an older version of shadPS4?
The versions page lists all 8 versions with links to their official installer files, back to December 24, 2025.
Can I use shadPS4 without administrator rights?
Yes, it is portable: unpack and run it.
What are alternatives to shadPS4?
PCSX2, SharpEmu, BizHawk, SameBoy and bsnes. The alternatives page compares them.
