Xbox announces disc-to-digital feature that digitizes your physical games

Microsoft is introducing a new Xbox feature that will let owners convert their physical games into digital copies, a move tied to the company’s broader game preservation efforts and its planning for the next generation of Xbox consoles. The feature, known as disc-to-digital, applies to most disc-based games for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X. Players will be able to insert a supported disc into either console, launch the game, and claim a digital entitlement linked to that specific physical copy. If the disc is swapped with a friend or used on a different Xbox profile, the digital entitlement follows the physical disc.

Testing for the disc-to-digital feature begins on August 31st with Xbox Insider testers, and Microsoft will roll it out more broadly to Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles in the months after. Once a game is digitized, and if the title supports it, players can access it on PC through Xbox Play Anywhere or stream it to other devices using Xbox Cloud Gaming. Jason Ronald, vice president of next generation at Xbox, said the feature starts with thousands of titles and will expand over time, though not every game will be available at launch. He described the move as a step toward giving players more confidence that the games they buy will remain with them for years.

The announcement follows a leaked memo earlier this month that indicated publishers will have control over which games support disc-to-digital, meaning initial support will be uneven. Microsoft is positioning the feature as part of a larger push to preserve its game library, and it also recently announced plans to bring Xbox and Xbox 360 games to PC. That effort could allow the next Xbox console to play every game ever made for the platform.

The timing is notable because Sony recently announced it will stop producing physical PlayStation game discs, with new PlayStation games after January 2028 being digital-only. Sony has not announced a comparable feature for converting existing physical PlayStation libraries into digital ones, and it is unclear whether Microsoft will follow a similar path and end production of Xbox discs. For U.S. consumers, the disc-to-digital feature offers a way to retain access to physical collections as the industry shifts toward digital distribution, though the publisher-controlled support means not all games will qualify initially.

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