PS4 Pro Update Brings 4K Support To Its Media Player

While the PS4 Pro you have at home will never be able to play 4K Blu-rays, its 4K media playback capabilities are expanding with the release of a new update.

The Media Player app will be updated later today to enable 4K video playback, Sony has announced on the PlayStation Blog. With the update installed, you'll be able to watch 4K videos in mp4 format using the app by either plugging in a USB storage device or connecting to a home server with the video on it.

Additionally, if you own both a Pro and a PlayStation VR headset, the Media Player will support 4K VR videos with this update. Although the headset itself doesn't feature a 4K display (its resolution is 1920x1080), videos should still look nicer than they otherwise would.

If you choose to play videos off a USB drive or stick, Sony pointed out that you can't use the same drive as the one you might have formatted to serve as additional PS4 storage space (a featured added in the 4.50 system update).

As noted above, today's update won't do anything to address the inability to play 4K Blu-ray discs on a PS4 Pro, which is a hardware limitation, rather than a software one. Given the system's positioning as a 4K device, the omission was a curious one when it was announced last year, with Sony attributing the decision to a trend toward streaming media. Microsoft, as you'd expect, quickly jumped at the opportunity to herald the cheaper Xbox One S' support for 4K Blu-rays.