Sony Flips Enhanced PSSR to Default on PS5 Pro in Update 14.00
Sony has made Enhanced PSSR the default image setting on every PS5 Pro, so owners no longer need to dig through menus to switch on the console's better upscaler. The change shipped in system software update 26.06-14.00.00, which Sony released for PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles on September 16, 2026.
PSSR stands for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, the machine-learning system Sony uses to reconstruct a lower-resolution frame into something close to a native 4K image. The enhanced version of that pipeline has been on the console for some time as a manual option. Until this week it stayed switched off unless a player found the toggle and turned it on.
After the firmware installs, the setting activates on its own, and Sony's patch notes say the newer pipeline is applied even to games built around the earlier version of PSSR. The company describes the result as a sharper and clearer picture. Players who want the old behaviour can still disable it through Settings, Screen and Video, Video Output and the Enhance PSSR Image Quality entry.
The graphics change is exclusive to the PS5 Pro. Base PS5 consoles receive the same firmware, and their image processing is unchanged.
What Else Ships in Update 26.06-14.00.00
The upscaler switch leads the release notes, but the update carries several smaller additions for both consoles.
| Change | Availability | State after updating |
|---|---|---|
| Enhanced PSSR Image Quality | PS5 Pro only | On by default, can be disabled |
| Voice chat speaker indicator | PS5 and PS5 Pro | Optional, off until enabled |
| Party display names | PS5 and PS5 Pro | Optional, off until enabled |
| Community Activity widget (Trending Now, Top 10) | PS5 and PS5 Pro | Added to Welcome Hub |
The speaker indicator tells party members who is talking at any given moment, and display names let a voice be matched to an account. The Community Activity widget pulls regional play data into the Welcome Hub, with Trending Now and Top 10 views that include a weekly chart of the most-played games in a player's country. Sony also lists Bluetooth control changes, general stability work and additional security fixes.
Because these arrive with system software rather than a game patch, they land on every console that installs the update. No store download or title-specific update is involved.
Why the Enhanced PSSR Default Is the Real Change
Nothing in the PS5 Pro's silicon changes with this firmware. The console renders the same frames with the same compute budget, and no game gains a new code path. What shifts is exposure. A feature that previously reached only players willing to open the settings menu now reaches everyone who installs the update.
The consequence for developers is unusual. A studio that shipped a PS5 Pro title with first-generation PSSR support does not have to certify, patch or resubmit anything for the newer upscaler to take over on that game. The improvement lands on copies already installed on consoles. It also means the choice sits with the player rather than the developer, since the toggle is a console-level setting and not a per-title one.
Reach is narrower than the phrase every PS5 Pro game suggests. Only titles built around PSSR inherit the upgrade, and Sony's notes tie the behaviour to games that support the previous version of the technology. Titles that lean on other reconstruction methods or render natively see no benefit from the switch.
Control is coarse by design. The toggle is a single console-wide switch, so a player who prefers the older pipeline in one specific title has no way to keep it there while the newer version runs everywhere else. That makes the global default a trade the patch notes do not spell out: broader coverage for the library, less granularity for the individual game.
For owners, the practical effect is a free lift to image quality across part of a library they already paid for, delivered without a download. It also removes a setup step that a large share of players likely never completed. The friction has moved rather than disappeared, because anyone who prefers the older output now has to turn the feature off deliberately.
The default applies to future releases as well. New PS5 Pro titles that ship with PSSR support will start in the newer mode without asking the player, so the setting's reach grows with the library instead of staying fixed to the games on sale today.
The base PS5 sits outside the change entirely. That widens the visible difference between the two machines by software policy rather than by hardware, at a moment when Sony's pitch for the PS5 Pro rests on making existing games look better rather than on new exclusives.
What PS5 Pro Owners Get by Default
Most PS5 Pro owners never open the video output menu, so the default decides what they see. The update turns the newer PSSR pipeline on for supported games already installed, without a single developer patch, and it puts the Pro's image-quality pitch in front of players who never went looking for the setting. The cost is a small loss of choice, because restoring the previous behaviour now takes a deliberate manual step. For anyone comparing the Pro with a base PS5, the firmware raises what the hardware already on the shelf can deliver.
Photo by Georgiy Lyamin on Unsplash
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Researched and cross-referenced against primary sources by the Bytevyte editorial team. This article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the Bytevyte editorial team.