Console browser — what it can do on PS5, Xbox, Switch and Steam Deck
An online tool that checks the browser on a game console and tells you what actually works in it: which video and audio codecs it decodes, whether WebGL2, WebGPU and WebAssembly SIMD are there, whether Web HID and the Gamepad API are available, how much memory it reports and what screen it drives. The page recognizes PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck on its own, and next to the report sit notes for each of them: how to open that browser at all and what it is limited by.
How to use
On PS5 and Switch the browser arrives through a sign-in window or a captive portal; on Xbox install Edge from the store; on Steam Deck switch to Desktop mode.
The checks run immediately and take a couple of seconds; the rendering measurement starts from its own button.
The “Copy report” button puts everything on the clipboard as one block of text.
Open this page on the console and read the report: codecs, graphics, input devices
Detecting platform…
Reading user agent and hardware hints.
System
Browser features
Audio & video codecs
Tests every common audio and video codec via MediaSource and HTMLMediaElement.canPlayType. Useful for diagnosing why a video won't play in the Steam Deck browser.
Render benchmark
Three-second canvas render test — 1500 random rectangles per frame. Reports average FPS and percentage of janky (>33ms) frames.
Notes per console
Open this page on the console itself for the report to fill with its data. The notes below read fine from any device.
PlayStation 5
There is no browser app: the system opens WebKit windows for Twitch and YouTube sign-in and for captive-portal Wi-Fi, and those are what people steer to an arbitrary address. The WebKit build exposes FEWER codecs than the console hardware decodes: the matrix below describes the browser, not the silicon. Web HID is not exposed at all here — a DualSense is tested by plugging it into a computer.
Xbox Series X and S
The browser is a real, full one — Chromium-based Edge, installed from the store. The user-agent on Series X and S still says “Xbox One”: Microsoft kept the string for site compatibility, so read the GPU line and the core count instead. USB and Bluetooth keyboards and mice work. WebGPU depends on the Edge build — the badge in the report beats any list.
Nintendo Switch
There is no full browser: a WebKit window opens only for captive-portal sign-in and for a few services. Its capabilities are visibly narrower than the other consoles’, and the report says so plainly.
Steam Deck
Game Mode has no browser: switch to Desktop (Steam menu → Power → Switch to Desktop) and install one from Discover. The GPU shows up as “ANGLE” — that is Chromium’s translation layer, not the chip name, though the family is usually readable from the string. WebGPU depends on the Mesa version and the Chromium build.
