PlayStation Portable system software

The PlayStation Portable uses the XrossMediaBar (XMB) as its graphical user interface, which is also used in the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console, a variety of Sony BRAVIA HDTVs, Blu-ray disc players and many more Sony products. XMB displays icons horizontally across the screen that be seen as categories. Users can navigate through them using the left and right buttons of the D-pad, which move the icons forward or back across the screen, highlighting just one at a time, as opposed to using any kind of pointer to select an option. When one category is selected, there are usually more specific options then available to select that are spread vertically above and below the selected icon. Users may navigate among these options by using the up and down buttons of the D-pad.

The basic features offered by XMB implementations varies based on device and software version. On the PSP console, the XMB had top level icons for Photos, Music, Videos, Games, Networking (which allows the use of the web browser), Settings and Extras. Also, XMB offers a degree of multitasking. With the PSP, using the Home button while playing music would allow users to browse photos without stopping the music. While XMB proved to be a successful user interface for Sony products such as PSP and PS3, the next generation Sony video game consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita no longer use this user interface.[3] For example, the XMB is replaced by the LiveArea interface on the PS Vita.

PlayStation Portable uses the NetFront Browser

The PlayStation Portable comes with a web browser for browsing the Internet. The web browser is a version of the NetFront browser made by Access Co. Ltd. and was released for free with the 2.00 system software update.[4] The browser supports most common web technologies, such as HTTP cookies, forms, CSS, as well as basic JavaScript capabilities.[5]

The version 2.50 upgrade added Unicode (UTF-8) character encoding and Auto-Select as options in the browser's encoding menu, and also introduced the saving of input history for online forms.

Version 2.70 of the PSP's system software introduced basic Flash capabilities to the browser.[6] However, the player runs Flash version 6, five iterations behind the current desktop version 11,[7] making some websites difficult to view.[6]

There are three different rendering modes: "Normal", "Just-Fit", and "Smart-Fit". "Normal" will display the page with no changes, "Just-Fit" will attempt to shrink some elements to make the whole page fit on the screen and preserve layout and "Smart-Fit" will display content in the order it appears in the HTML, and with no size adjustments; instead it will drop an element down below the preceding element if it starts to go off the screen.

The browser also has basic tabbed browsing capabilities, with a maximum of three tabs. When a website tries to open a link in a new window, the browser opens it in a new tab.[8]

Parents can limit content by enabling Browser Start Up Control which blocks all access to the web browser and creating a 4-digit PIN under [Settings] in [Security]. Additionally, the browser can be configured to run under a proxy server and can be protected by the security PIN to enable the use of web filtering or monitoring software through a network. Recently, TrendMicro for PSP was added as a feature that can be enabled via a subscription to filter or monitor content on the PSP.

The PSP browser is slower compared to modern browsers and often runs out of memory due to limitations put in place by Sony. Alternatively, homebrew alternatives to the browser have been released that utilize all 32/64 MB of the PSP's RAM, which allows the browser to load pages faster and have more memory for larger pages.[9] Opera Mini can also be used on PSP through PSPKVM, a homebrew application which is a Sun Java Virtual Machine. It was claimed to provide much faster loading times than the default browser and provides better web page compatibility.[10]

Like many other video game consoles, the PlayStation Portable is capable of photo, audio, and video playback in a variety of formats. However, unlike Sony's home consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 4, it is not possible to play Blu-ray or DVD movies on the PlayStation Portable directly since it lacks a standard Blu-ray or DVD drive. While it does have a UMD drive and there exist UMD movies, the UMD format never saw implementation on any device other than the PlayStation Portable and as a result, the market is very limited compared to those for other optical media formats. There have been no more movies released on UMD since 2011, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 being one of the final releases on the format.[11]

The PlayStation Portable also supports a feature known as Remote Play, which allows the PSP to access many features of a PlayStation 3 console from a remote location using the PS3's WLAN capabilities, a home network, or the Internet.[12] However, unlike the later Remote Play feature between the PlayStation Vita and the PlayStation 4, the Remote Play capabilities between the PSP and the PS3 are much more limited. Although most of the PS3's capabilities related to its main user interface are accessible with Remote Play, playback of DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, PlayStation 2 games, most PlayStation 3 games, and copy-protected files stored on the PS3's hard drive are not supported.[13] Actual Remote Play between the PSP and the PS3 games are only supported by a "select" very few PS3 titles.

Furthermore, PSP-2000, PSP-3000, and PSP-N1000 can use the Skype VoIP service starting with system software version 3.90. The service allows Skype calls to be made over Wi-Fi and on the PSP Go over the Bluetooth Modem feature. It is not possible to use the VoIP service on the original PSP-1000 console due to hardware limitations. There also existed other services for the PSP such as the Room for PlayStation Portable, similar to the PlayStation 3's online community-based service known as PlayStation Home.

Go!Messenger, a free instant messaging program jointly developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and BT Group, was announced on August 22, 2007 at the Leipzig Games Convention, and was released on February 29, 2008, also with firmware version 3.90. It allowed the Go!Cam to be used for video conferencing and voice chat.[14] PSP users could communicate with PC users through Go!Messenger if the PC was running BT Softphone 2. Because use of the service did not meet Sony and BT's expectations, it was discontinued on March 31, 2009.[15] Subsequently, firmware version 5.50 removed the program's icon.

SensMe channels for music files was added to the PSP starting with firmware version 6.10.[16] Also, SHOUTCast Radio can be listened to via an inbuilt app on most PSPs.