Your systems, one frontend.
Run emulators, game engines and media playback through one configurable frontend.
Cores install separately. The package does not include game images.
Input ready
RetroArch is a Libretro frontend. Controller maps, playlists and menu options stay together across supported hosts. Original discs can load from the same menu.
Input settings, shaders, networking and core management stay together in one interface. Cores arrive separately. No game images ship with the package.
RetroArch is the menu, input, video, audio and updater around Libretro cores. The core is the emulator, engine or media program. The frontend is not an emulator by itself.
Video input · Frame 01 · Active
The frontend can answer a press on the following frame.
When that path holds, delay should sit with original hardware, FPGA clones or the real console.
Release crate · Frame 02
Install the current RetroArch package for your host.
The public homepage still leads with 1.21.0. Verified stable on Download is 1.22.2.
Interface · Frame 03
Browse the collection through a set-top menu.
After a scan, titles group by system. Thumbnails and motion backdrops belong to that menu.
Host range · Frame 04
Windows, Mac OS X and Linux are first-class desktops.
Apple and Android cover phones and tablets. Consoles include PS3, PSP, PS Vita, Wii, Wii U and more.
Configuration · Frame 05
Advanced rows expose how titles run and how they are drawn.
Each option starts from a working default so you can play before you tune.
Open channel
Input system · Frame 06
Common controllers configure on plug-in, the way a console would.
That path helps when a guest brings their own pad. Manual remaps still exist for combos.
Open channel
Video signal · Frame 07
Shaders are light GPU filters that can sharpen or restyle older games.
They can also rebuild a CRT monitor look. Presets stack if you want a custom chain.
Open channel
Trophies · Frame 08
Achievements sit on classic games you already hold.
After a RetroAchievements sign-in, trophies and badges track like a modern console.
Open channel
Network · Frame 09
Host or join a networked session.
The built-in lobby returns local multiplayer over a distance. Spectator mode lets you watch without playing.
Open channel
Capture · Frame 10
A session can be written to a video file.
The same path can send a live stream to Twitch or YouTube.
Open channel
Core library · Frame 11
New programs continue to enter the RetroArch library.
Core Updater can fetch those programs as soon as they are published.
Open channelThe download page keeps official package buttons empty so listing URLs can be pasted later. After you have a file, the setup path is the same on the documented hosts.
Windows offers an installer and a portable 7z. Do not extract the 7z into Program Files. Use a user folder. Nightlies pick up daily commits and can be less settled than 1.22.2.
A core is the Libretro program. Content is the game, image or media file that core executes. Online Updater also refreshes assets, controller profiles and shaders.
Physical pads map to RetroPad. Common controllers configure on plug-in. Turbo fire, analog-to-digital and remap files stay first-class. Bliss-Box 4-Play is listed for original hardware pass-through.
After Scan Directory, matching files join playlists. History and Favorites are built in. You supply only content you have the right to use. This site will not point at ROM archives.
The frontend lists across desktop, mobile and console storefronts.
Store builds can differ from the site package. Platforms sometimes require cuts so the listing can stay.
App Store
Mobile
Amazon Appstore
Mobile
Steam
Desktop
itch.io
Desktop
AppGallery
Mobile
Galaxy Store
Mobile
Google Play
Mobile
Libretro lists more than 200 cores. The set still grows. Engines, games, media tools and emulators share the same API.
OpenLara rebuilds an early Tomb Raider engine.
The core is listed for Windows and Linux.
Read the core notes here.
It needs the original data files. Extra lighting sits on the old engine without fighting the original look.
LRPS2 is a PlayStation 2 emulator. Its Vulkan LLE renderer is ParaLLEl GS.
ParaLLEl-GS aims for software-level accuracy on the GPU. That headroom also allows enhancements that are too slow in software, including supersampled antialiasing.
Read the core notes here.
DOSBox Pure is a plug-and-play DOSBox build written for Libretro. It covers MS-DOS and Windows 9x titles, plus savestates and rewind.
Many DOS games get automatic detection and gamepad-to-keyboard maps.
Read the core notes here.
PX-68K emulates the Sharp X68000, a late-80s Japanese home computer that Capcom used as arcade devkits.
Namco, Konami and Capcom titles lived on that machine.
The core is listed for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
Several ideas left this frontend and later became common. As an active open-source project, it still adds features each year.
No. RetroArch is a frontend for Libretro cores. The core is the emulator, engine or media program. RetroArch is the shell around it.
Yes. GNU GPLv3. The 1.21.0 release text says the team does not add in-app ads, monetization SDKs or paywalled features.
Yes. Docs cover Windows 7 through 11. Android needs 5.0 or later. macOS, Linux and iOS are listed on the official site.
No. You provide content you have the right to use. Cores and nightlies can trip antivirus scanners. Verify hashes from the package you chose.
1.21.0 added a PipeWire camera path, Vulkan adaptive vsync and Ozone fixes. Verified stable is now 1.22.2.
Continue readingA Libretro-side tool for cleaning ROM sets, listed with the 1.21.0 news cycle.
Continue readingRetroArch gained support for the Bliss-Box 4-Play adapter so original controllers can pass through that hardware.
Continue readingLRPS2 ships ParaLLEl GS, a Vulkan LLE renderer. Core notes live on the features page.
Continue reading1.20.0 was the official news stable published 5 January 2025, before 1.21.0.
Continue readingA CRT beam-racing simulator shader landed, the same family used for rolling-scan display work.
Continue readingThe PlayStation 2 was built around analog video, scanlines and timing, not a fixed pixel grid.
Continue reading1.19.1 stays on the official news list as the point release before 1.20.0.
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RetroArch