You're staring at a download that's crawling at a few megabytes per second or stuck at a percentage that hasn't moved in 20 minutes. The PS5 is a fast console, but downloads can still get hung up on everything from WiFi interference to server congestion to something weird in the system software.
The good news is that most of these are easy to fix. Here's what to try in the order that usually works.
Plug In an Ethernet Cable
I know it's not always practical depending on where your console sits, but a wired connection is the single biggest speed booster for PS5 downloads. The console has a built-in gigabit ethernet port on the back. Plug a Cat5e or Cat6 cable from there directly to your router.
WiFi is convenient but inconsistent. Walls, interference from other devices, and signal drop-off all cut into your speed. Wired gives you the full pipe your internet plan offers with none of those variables. If you can run a cable, even just for big game downloads, you'll notice the difference immediately.
Pause Other Downloads and Close Games
The PS5 handles multiple downloads at once, but it prioritizes actively running games over everything else. If you have a game open, the system diverts bandwidth and processing power to keep that game running smoothly, and your download gets the leftovers.
Press the PlayStation button to go to the home screen. Highlight any running game, press the Options button, and select Close Game. Then go to the Downloads section from the home screen and check if anything else is downloading that you can pause. Focusing the system on one download at a time usually doubles or triples the speed.
Put the PS5 in Rest Mode
This sounds backwards, but the PS5 actually downloads faster in Rest Mode than when it's fully on and running the home screen. The system dedicates more resources to network activity when it's not also rendering the UI or handling background tasks. Go to Settings > System > Power Saving > Features Available in Rest Mode and make sure Stay Connected to the Internet is enabled. Then hit the PlayStation button, select Power, and choose Enter Rest Mode. The download keeps going, typically faster than when the console is fully awake.
Check PlayStation Network Status
Sometimes the issue isn't on your end at all. Sony's PSN servers get hammered during big game launches, free weekends, and peak evening hours. If downloads slow to a crawl across the board, it might be server-side congestion that you can't fix locally. Check Sony's official PSN status page or a site like downdetector to see if other people are reporting the same slowdown. If the servers are struggling, pause the download and try again in a few hours when traffic is lower.
Rebuild the PS5 Database in Safe Mode
After a power loss or a crash, the PS5's internal database can get scrambled, which sometimes causes downloads to stall during the installation phase. Safe Mode has a fix for this. Turn off the PS5 completely, then hold the power button until you hear a second beep about seven seconds in. Plug your DualSense controller in with a USB-C cable (it won't connect wirelessly in Safe Mode). Select option 5, Clear Cache and Rebuild Database, then choose the sub-option for Rebuild Database. This doesn't delete your games or saves, it just reorganizes the system data. Downloads that were hanging before the rebuild often complete normally afterward.
Restart Your Router and the Console
If the download was fine yesterday and suddenly tanked, a full network reset is the right call. Unplug your router from power for about 30 seconds, plug it back in, and let it fully boot, which takes a couple of minutes. While that's happening, do a full shutdown on the PS5 from Power > Turn Off PS5, not Rest Mode. Wait until the light bar goes dark, then power it back on. Stale network data on either the router or the console gets cleared, and downloads often jump back to normal speed.
Switch to a Public DNS
Your ISP's DNS servers can be slow to resolve the download server addresses the PS5 needs, which creates delays and sometimes causes downloads to stall. You can swap to a faster public DNS in the network settings. Go to Settings > Network > Settings > Set Up Internet Connection. Select your current network, choose Advanced Settings, and change DNS Settings to Manual. Enter 8.8.8.8 as the Primary DNS and 8.8.4.4 as the Secondary (Google's servers) or 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 (Cloudflare). Save the change, reconnect, and resume the download.
Free Up Storage Space
The PS5 needs extra room beyond the game's listed install size for the download and installation process. If your internal SSD or an external drive is almost full, downloads can pause or fail without a clear error. Go to Settings > Storage and check what's eating up space. Archive or delete games you're not playing. I usually leave at least 50GB free to avoid download issues, especially for bigger titles that unpack during installation.
Cancel and Restart the Download
If none of the above helped and the download is genuinely stuck at the same percentage for 30 minutes or more, cancel it and start over. Highlight the stuck download in the downloads list, press the Options button, and select Cancel. Then go back to your Game Library or the PlayStation Store and kick it off again. The PS5 doesn't start from scratch most of the time, it re-verifies whatever data it already downloaded and picks up from there. But a fresh start sometimes clears whatever internal hiccup was hanging the process.
