The Playstation 5 (PS5) is a remarkable machine that’s really hard to get right now, at least at the manufacturer’s price. It’s highly sought for many reasons, but the reality is it is a high-quality machine that almost mirrors a personal computer (PC). One particularly unique feature of the PS5 is its multiple USB ports, which makes using and charging multiple accessories easier than ever. But exactly how many USB ports on a PS5 are there?
The PS5 has precisely four USB ports. There are two USB ports on the front of the console, and there are two USB ports on the back, for a total of four.
Note there are two different types of USB ports on your PS5 console, and it’s important to know what each is capable of doing. Basically, you must know what you can and cannot be plugging into them, lest you risk damaging your very expensive hardware. These ports make the console extremely resourceful, because they allow you to not only charge your gaming accessories, but they also allow you to connect multiple different accessories to your console simultaneously.
You can literally use a mouse and keyboard on your console while charging your controller and headset. That is, if you know about the USB-port types, and how to use them.
First, let’s explore the anatomy of a PS5’S USB ports, so we know where the ports are located before continuing on about their functionality.
The top USB port on the PS5 is a type-A high-speed USB port. The bottom USB port on the PS5 is a type-C superspeed USB port (10Gbps). On the back of the PS5, there are two type-A superspeed USB ports (10Gbps). That is to say, there is no difference between the back two USB ports – both are the same type-A ports.
If you’re wondering what Gbps means, it means the USB port is capable of data transfer speeds up to 10 gigabits per second. .
USB Port Type Functionality
First, let’s talk about what you can’t do with either a type-A or a type-C USB port on the PS5. Unfortunately, you cannot connect an Ethernet source to either of these USB ports, as neither will result in a connection. This effectively rules out Ethernet paring to USB ports on the PS5. But that really doesn’t matter because the PS5 already comes equipped with a port for ethernet.
Type-C Port
You can use a USB Type-C hub, which you can use if you want to do something like connecting a keyboard or mouse to your PS5 console. For example, if I had hardware I wanted to connect using Bluetooth, I would plug the hub into the type-c port, then plug the blue tooth component into that hub.
The Type-C port is really useful because it allows you to use any set of old headphones that have the traditional plug-in as your gaming earphones. Simply plug an audio accessory into the type-C port and you will see it’s detected as an input/output device.
Also note that if you’re set on using external hard drives for storage, Sony itself recommends you only use the Type-C USB port.
Type-A Port
Again, it’s important to note that the type-A port on the front of your PS5 console is not compatible with an HD camera or extended PS5 storage – instead, you’ll use this port specifically for your DualSense or Dualshock 4 controllers. This port is also used for connecting Playstation VR and other USB-specialty controllers out there. Trying to use this port for external storage does risk damaging the USB port, so as mentioned above and as recommended by Sony, only use the type-C USB port located on the front of the console.
The type-A ports on the back, however, can be used to connect extended storage for the PS5, all of the aforementioned Playstation controllers (DualSense, Dualshock 4, Playstation VR, etc.), plus your headset adaptor.
Putting it All Together
In summary, use literally any USB port to charge your PS5 controllers (DualSense), or use any USB port to charge your PS4 controllers (DualShock4). You can also use any of these USB ports to play in wired mode when your controller is physically linked to the console instead of using Bluetooth. You’ll need this for if and when you forget to charge your controllers or headset.
Sony recommends using only the front Type-C port for PS5 extended storage. And from the company’s own help page, “USB storage is not compatible with the USB Type-A port on the front of a PS5 console.” But USB storage is compatible with both of the USB ports on the back
For HD cameras or PlayStation®Camera, Sony advises using only the front Type-C USB port or either of the type-A USB ports on the back. Because as the help page notes, HD cameras or PS camera (with adapter) are not compatible with the USB type-a port on the front of the PS5 console.
And if you are using a USB controller that isn’t specifically made by Sony, no worries – you can use any of the PS5’s four USB ports to support it.
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