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Slow download speeds on PS5 and Xbox: why it crawls and how to fix it

A 90GB game showing sixteen hours remaining on a fast connection. Here is what is actually throttling it, and the changes that get you back to full speed.

By 6 min read
Slow download speeds on PS5 and Xbox: why it crawls and how to fix it

Console downloads have a reputation for being slow, and it is partly deserved. Consoles deliberately deprioritise downloads while a game is running, their Wi-Fi hardware is usually weaker than a modern phone's, and the download servers get busy at the same hours every evening.

What is not true is that you can do nothing about it. Two of the causes are entirely in your control, and fixing them typically halves the time on a large download.

Before changing anything, it helps to know what speed you should actually expect: a 100 Mbps connection at full rate downloads roughly 45GB per hour. If your console is nowhere near that, the steps below are worth the ten minutes.

You are in the right place if

  • The console estimates hours for a download your phone would finish in minutes
  • Speed is fine on a speed test but the download still crawls
  • Downloads speed up dramatically when you stop playing
  • It is slower in the evening than in the morning

The 60-second fix

  1. Stop playing while downloading. A game running in the foreground takes priority over downloads on every console.
  2. Pause the download and resume it — this forces a new connection to a possibly faster server.
  3. Put the console into rest mode with downloads allowed, which removes the running game entirely.
  4. If it is on Wi-Fi and near the router, try a cable for one download and compare.

Step 1: stop playing, and put the console into rest mode

This is the single biggest factor and the one most people are unaware of. Both PlayStation and Xbox reserve network bandwidth and processor time for the game you are playing, which means a download running behind an active game gets whatever is left over.

The difference is not marginal. Downloads commonly run two to four times faster with nothing else running, and rest mode is faster still because the system dedicates everything to the transfer.

  1. Close the game completely rather than leaving it suspended in the background.
  2. PS5: Settings → System → Power Saving → Features Available in Rest Mode → enable Stay Connected to the Internet.
  3. Xbox: Settings → General → Power options → choose Sleep, and make sure Keep my games and apps up to date is on.
  4. Start the download, then put the console into rest mode and leave it. Check again in an hour rather than watching the estimate.

Step 2: a cable, because console Wi-Fi is genuinely weaker

Consoles sit in a TV cabinet, low down, often behind a screen and surrounded by other electronics, with antennas that are not as good as the one in your phone. That combination costs a lot of speed even when the router is in the same room.

This is why a speed test on your phone next to the console can show three times what the console achieves, which makes people blame the download servers when the problem is two metres of living room.

  1. Run the console's own connection test (Settings → Network) and compare it with a phone speed test standing in the same spot.
  2. If the console is much slower, try an Ethernet cable for one large download and compare the times.
  3. If a cable is impractical, a powerline adapter with an Ethernet port behind the TV usually beats Wi-Fi in that location comfortably.
  4. Failing both, move the console out of the cabinet so its antennas are not surrounded by metal and other devices.

Step 3: DNS and the server you are downloading from

Game downloads come from content delivery networks with servers in many places. Which one you get is decided when the connection starts, and occasionally you get a distant or overloaded one. Pausing and resuming forces a new selection, which is why that trick sometimes produces a dramatic improvement.

Changing DNS can also help, mostly by getting you routed to a better nearby server. It is quick to try and easy to undo.

  1. Pause the download, wait ten seconds, and resume. If speed jumps, you were on a slow server.
  2. In the console's network settings, set DNS manually to a public resolver such as 1.1.1.1 with 1.0.0.1, or 8.8.8.8 with 8.8.4.4.
  3. Test a download, and set it back to automatic if there is no improvement.
  4. Try downloading at a different time of day. Evening congestion on both your provider's network and the game servers is real and measurable.

Step 4: storage, and why an update is slower than a download

Downloading and installing are two different jobs, and the progress bar usually merges them. A game update in particular has to copy and rewrite large amounts of existing data, so a 5GB update can take longer than a 40GB fresh install. That is not a network problem at all.

Free space matters too. A console with almost no room left spends time shuffling data, and on a nearly full drive everything slows down.

  • Keep at least 10% of the drive free, and more if you install large games regularly.
  • Delete games you have finished rather than leaving everything installed — they re-download later from your library.
  • If the console says 'copying' or 'installing' rather than 'downloading', network changes will not speed it up. That phase is limited by the drive.
  • On an Xbox, avoid downloading to an external USB drive if you can — internal storage is significantly faster for the install phase.

Step 5: what speed to actually expect

It helps to know the arithmetic, because it turns a vague frustration into a clear yes or no. Internet speed is measured in megabits per second, and file sizes in gigabytes, and the conversion catches everyone out.

  • Divide your speed in Mbps by 8 to get megabytes per second. 100 Mbps is about 12.5 MB/s, or roughly 45GB per hour at full rate.
  • So a 90GB game on a perfect 100 Mbps connection takes about two hours. If yours says sixteen, something in this article applies to you.
  • On a 25 Mbps connection, that same game takes about eight hours at full speed. That is simply the arithmetic, and no setting will change it.
  • If your console reaches within 20% of your paid speed during a connection test but downloads slowly anyway, the bottleneck is the game servers or a running game — not your home network.

Questions people still ask

Why is my PS5 or Xbox downloading so slowly?

Most often because a game is running and taking priority, because the console is on weak Wi-Fi inside a TV cabinet, or because you were assigned a busy download server. Closing the game and using rest mode addresses the first two, and pausing and resuming addresses the third.

Does rest mode make downloads faster?

Yes, noticeably. In rest mode the console is not running a game, not rendering anything, and dedicates its network and processing capacity to the transfer. It is the simplest speed improvement available and requires enabling one setting.

Should I use a cable instead of Wi-Fi on my console?

If you can, yes. Console Wi-Fi antennas are weaker than phone antennas and the console is usually in the worst place in the room for reception. A cable, or a powerline adapter behind the TV, frequently doubles real download speed.

Does changing DNS speed up downloads?

Sometimes, by routing you to a closer or less busy content server. It is quick to try and easy to reverse. It will not make a difference if your connection is already saturated or a game is running in the foreground.

Why is a small update slower than a big download?

Because updates spend most of their time copying and rewriting data already on the drive rather than downloading. That phase is limited by storage speed and free space, so network changes do nothing for it.

Madimed

Founder and writer, HexaCraftPixel

Writes every guide on HexaCraftPixel. Fixes things first, writes about them second.

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