Glossary
In short: what the technical words and abbreviations on this site mean. On every page, the first use of each of these words links here.
- Bit-perfect
- An exact copy: every bit of the copy is the same as on the disc.
- Cobra
- A part of PS3 custom firmware that mounts disc images, so a copied game starts as if its disc were in the drive.
- Custom firmware (CFW)
- Modified PS3 system software that can run homebrew apps such as PSX RiPPER. Evilnat is one.
- EDC/ECC
- Error detection code and error correction code: checksums stored in every CD-ROM data sector. They show whether a sector was read correctly, and can fix small read errors.
- Homebrew
- Software made by hobbyists for a console, not by the console's maker.
- LibCrypt
- A copy protection on some European (PAL) PlayStation discs: some sectors carry deliberately wrong subchannel data. A copy without that data stops working partway through the game. See SBI.
- lv1
- The PS3's hypervisor, the layer under the system software that controls the hardware. While it copies from the internal drive, the app changes four instructions of it in memory so it may read raw sectors. A restart undoes the change.
- MCP (Model Context Protocol)
- An open standard that lets an AI agent, a program built on a language model, use the tools of another program. In PSX RiPPER it lets an agent read the screen and start copies.
- MD5
- A checksum: a 32-character fingerprint of a file. Two files with the same MD5 are, in practice, identical. Redump lists the MD5 of every track.
- PAL
- The European TV standard. PAL discs are the European releases.
- Pregap
- The gap stored on a CD before a track starts. An exact copy has to keep it.
- PS3MAPI (PS3 Manager API)
- An interface in custom firmware that lets apps read and change the console's memory. PSX RiPPER uses it for the lv1 change.
- Redump
- redump.org, a database of checksums of exact disc copies, each checked by people who own the disc. A copy whose checksums match Redump is an exact copy.
- SBI (.sbi file)
- A small file that holds a LibCrypt disc's protection data (its altered subchannel), so Cobra or an emulator can play the copy.
- Sector
- The smallest piece of data on a CD: 2352 bytes. A PS1 disc holds up to about 330,000.
- Subchannel (Q subchannel)
- Extra data stored beside every CD sector that says where on the disc the sector is. LibCrypt hides its protection there.
- SuperDrive
- Apple's slim USB DVD drive (model A1379). The app can copy from two of them at once, besides the PS3's own drive.
- Webhook
- A web address the app sends a short message to when something happens, for example when a copy is done. A home automation system can turn it into a phone notification.
- webMAN MOD
- A popular PS3 plugin for custom firmware that mounts images, lists games and installs packages.
- XMB (XrossMediaBar)
- The PS3's home menu.