yet another PlayStationPortable Documentation

22 Memory Stick Structure

/PSP
  /GAME
    /UPDATE
  /MUSIC
  /PHOTO
  /SAVEDATA
  /SYSTEM
    /BROWSER
/MP_ROOT
  /100MNV01
  /01MAQ100
  /100MAQ10
/HIFI
/CONTROL
  /PACKAGES
    /PKGxxxxx
/DCIM
  /101MSDCF
/MISC

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22.1 Root Directory

In the root directory there are three entries which are of relevance to the PSP. The first is the file MEMSTICK.IND (or MSTK_PRO.IND) which just seems to be a indication that the stick is formatted (it is not specific to the PSP). The second is the directory psp which contains subdirectories for the different types of data used by the PSP. These are game, music, photo, and savedata. Not all subdirectories may exist if no data of the corresponding type is stored. The contents of the subdirectories are detailed in the following sections. In addition, there may be a mp_root directory in the root. This directory is for storing video, and should contain only a subdirectory called 100mnv01.

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22.1.1 PSP Subdirectory

22.1.1.1 Game Subdirectory

The game directory is for PSP software to be run directly from the memory stick. The Files are in PBP format (see Fileformats Section)
22.1.1.1.1 Update Subdirectory official Firmware Updates should be placed here.

22.1.1.2 Music Subdirectory

The music directory contains audio tracks for the music player. MPEG layer 3 files can be used as long as their filenames end with ".mp3". ID3 tags are supported and will be displayed by the player. It is possible to create subdirectories to put the tracks in, but only one level of subdirectories is supported.

22.1.1.3 Photo Subdirectory

This directory contains picture files that can be viewed in the photo viewer. The files should be in JPEG format, and the filenames should end with ".jpg". Like with the music directory, one level of subdirectories is possible.

22.1.1.4 Savedata Subdirectory

This is where the data saved by games goes. Each game creates a subdirectory with the product code of the game (e.g. ILJS00002) to get a private namespace, and then adds the following files to it:

ICON0.PNG
A still picture icon in PNG format (24 bits per pixel, 144×80 pixels (standard); 300x170 (maximum))
ICON1.PMF
An animated version of the same icon, file format currently unknown. (Optional.)
PIC1.PNG
A full-screen background picture for the file manager in PNG format (24 bits per pixel, 480×272 pixels) (Optional.)
SND0.AT3
Background music to play in the file manager, ATRAC3plus encoded in a WAV file. (Optional.) must not be larger than 500kb, and not longer than 55 seconds.
PARAM.SFO
Metadata about the game, such as parental rating information. This is a PSF file with a category of MS. In addition to this, the game will of course have its actual save data, typically in a file called data.bin although any name could be used as well as multiple files.

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22.1.2 MP_Root Subdirectory

22.1.2.1 100MNV01 Subdirectory

Here video clips can be stored for viewing in the video player. According to the manual, the clip should be encoded using MPEG-4 (H.264/AVC MP Level3), but I have not yet found one that works... The maximum allowed bitrate is specified as 768kbps. Filenames must be on the format m4vnnnnn.mp4, where nnnnn is a 5 digit number. Remember that the mp_root directory should be in the root directory and not in the psp subdirectory. A thumbnail file can optionally be included, and will give a visual indication of the video's contents, as well as include any custom title. It must share the filename of the video it belongs to, but ends in a .THM extension instead of .MP4.