Common in pirate releases (e.g., “PCSX2 Rip”):
Results:
Not every game compresses the same. Here are popular titles where "highly compressed" versions work beautifully: pcsx2 games highly compressed work
| Game Title | Original ISO Size | Highly Compressed (CHD) | Works? | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | God of War II | 8.4 GB | 3.1 GB | ✅ Yes | | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | 4.5 GB | 2.8 GB | ✅ Yes | | Final Fantasy X | 4.3 GB | 2.6 GB | ✅ Yes | | Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 | 3.9 GB | 1.6 GB | ✅ Yes | | Shadow of the Colossus | 3.5 GB | 1.2 GB | ✅ Yes |
Games that do not compress well (due to pre-rendered videos): Metal Gear Solid 2, Xenosaga Episode I. These will only shrink by 15-20%. Read errors or corrupted image:
PCSX2 is a PlayStation 2 emulator for PC, Android, and other platforms. PS2 game discs (DVD or CD) typically range from 700 MB to 8.5 GB (dual-layer DVD).
A highly compressed game refers to a game ROM (usually in .iso, .bin, .img, or .mdf format) that has been re-packed using compression formats like: ISO not recognized:
These compressed files can reduce the size by 50–80%, making storage and downloading easier.
If you own original PS2 discs, you can legally back them up and compress them.