RetroArch
Emulator and media player frontend
title: "RetroArch" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2010-software", "android-emulation-software", "arcade-video-game-emulators", "atari-2600", "dos-emulators", "free-and-open-source-android-software", "free-emulation-software", "game-boy-advance-emulators", "game-boy-emulators", "game-gear-emulators", "msx", "nintendo-ds-emulators", "nintendo-entertainment-system-emulators", "playstation-emulators", "sega-genesis-emulators", "sega-master-system-emulators", "sega-saturn", "super-nintendo-entertainment-system-emulators", "turbografx-16-emulators"] description: "Emulator and media player frontend" topic_path: "general/2010-software" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RetroArch" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Emulator and media player frontend ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | RetroArch |
| logo | RetroArch logo.png |
| screenshot | File:Retroarch Netplay-lobby.png |
| caption | Screenshot of RetroArch running under the XMB user interface |
| developer | Libretro |
| released | |
| latest release version | |
| latest release date | |
| repo | |
| programming_language | |
| operating system | Haiku, Unix-like, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS, FreeBSD, macOS, Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Xbox, Switch, New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 2DS, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, |
| platform | IA-32 (x86), x86-64 (x64), ARMv7, AArch64, PowerPC, MIPS, Cell |
| language | English, Mandarin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Persian, Hebrew, Asturian |
| genre | Video game console emulator |
| license | |
| website | , |
| :: |
| name = RetroArch | logo = RetroArch logo.png | screenshot = File:Retroarch Netplay-lobby.png | caption = Screenshot of RetroArch running under the XMB user interface | developer = Libretro | released = | latest release version = | latest release date = | repo = | programming_language = | operating system = Haiku, Unix-like, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS, FreeBSD, macOS, Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Xbox, Switch, New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 2DS, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Vita, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Classic, tvOS, webOS, AmigaOS, visionOS | platform = IA-32 (x86), x86-64 (x64), ARMv7, AArch64, PowerPC, MIPS, Cell | language = English, Mandarin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Persian, Hebrew, Asturian | genre = Video game console emulator | license = | website = , RetroArch is a free and open-source, cross-platform frontend for emulators, game engines, video games, media players and other applications. It is the reference implementation of the libretro API, designed to be fast, lightweight, portable and without dependencies. It is licensed under the GNU GPLv3.
RetroArch runs programs converted into dynamic libraries called libretro cores, using several user interfaces such as command-line interfaces, a few graphical user interfaces optimized for gamepads, several input, audio and video drivers, and other sophisticated features such as dynamic rate control, audio filters, multi-pass shaders, netplay, gameplay rewinding, cheats, etc.
RetroArch has been ported to many platforms. It can run on several PC operating systems, home consoles, handheld consoles, smartphones, smart TV's, single-board computers and web browsers. , versions for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 are not out yet, but are available unofficially.
History
Formerly known as SSNES, initially based on pseudonymous programmer Near's predecessor libsnes, it began its development in 2010 with Hans-Kristian "Themaister" Arntzen committing the first change on GitHub. It was intended as a replacement to bsnes's Qt-based interface but it grew to support more emulation "cores". On April 21, 2012, SSNES was officially renamed to RetroArch to reflect this change in direction.
RetroArch's version 1.0.0.0 was released on January 11, 2014, and at the time was available on seven distinct platforms: OS X, Android, iOS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and GameCube. On February 25, 2014, the version for Microsoft Windows was released. It featured cores for systems: SNES, NES, GB, GBC, GBA, Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64.
On February 16, 2016, RetroArch became one of the first ever applications to implement support for the Vulkan graphics API, having done so on the same day of the API's official release day.
On November 27, 2016, the Libretro Team announced that, alongside Lakka (LibreELEC-based RetroArch operating system), RetroArch would be on the Patreon crowdfunding platform to allow providing bounties for developers who fix specific software bugs and to cover the costs for matchmaking servers.
In December 2016, GoGames – a company contracted by video game developer and publisher Sega – approached the RetroArch developers with the intention of using their software in their SEGA Forever project but ultimately the cooperation did not come to fruition due to licensing disagreements.
In April 2018, an input lag compensation feature called "Run-Ahead" was added.
The Libretro Team planned to release RetroArch onto Steam as a free download, integrating Steamworks features into the platform in July 2019. It would have been the first major dedicated emulation title to be released on the platform at the time.
In 2020, the paraLLel libretro core for RetroArch used the GPU to run the Nintendo 64 at full speed on common consumer hardware, with upscaled graphics and the accuracy of bit-exact low-level renderer Angrylion.
In August 2020, someone impersonating a trusted member of the team got access to the buildbot server and the GitHub account for the libretro organization, causing vandalism and server wipes.
In November 2020, RetroArch in conjunction with a PCSX2 libretro core allowed the Xbox Series X and Series S to emulate the PlayStation 2, something that Sony's own PlayStation 5 could not do at the time.
On September 14, 2021, RetroArch was released on Steam.
On May 15, 2024, RetroArch has returned after three years officially on iOS, iPadOS, tvOS and visionOS through the App Store.
Features
Its major features include:
- Advanced GPU shader support – A multi-pass post-processing shader pipeline to allow efficient usage of image scaling algorithms, emulation of complex CRT, NTSC video artifacts and other effects;
- Dynamic rate control to synchronize video and audio while smoothing out timing imperfections;
- FFmpeg recording – Built-in support for lossless video recording using FFmpeg's libavcodec;
- Gamepad abstraction layer called Retropad;
- Gamepad auto-configuration – Zero-input needed from the user after plugging gamepads in;
- Peer-to-peer netplay that uses a rollback technique similar to GGPO;
- Audio DSP plugins like an equalizer, reverb and other effects;
- Advanced savestate features – Automatic savestate loading, disabling SRAM overwriting, etc.;
- Frame-by-frame gameplay rewinding;
- Button overlays for touchscreen devices like smartphones;
- Thumbnails of game box art;
- Low input and audio lag options;
- Automatically build categorized playlists by scanning directories for games/ROMs;
- Multiple interfaces including: CLI, XMB (optimized for gamepads), GLUI/MaterialUI (optimized for touch devices), RGUI and Ozone (available everywhere); thumbnail|Screenshot of RetroArch running under the Ozone user interface
- Game ROM scanner – Automatically constructs playlists by comparing the hashsums of a directory's files against databases of hashsums of known good game copies;
- Libretro database of cores, games, cheats, etc.;
- OpenGL and Vulkan API support;
- Run-ahead – Hide the input lag of emulated systems by using both savestates and fast-forwarding;
- Achievement tracking – Integration with the RetroAchievements service to unlock trophies and badges;
- AI service – Uses machine translation external services to translate game text on screen.
Supported systems
While RetroArch is available for many platforms, the availability of a specific libretro core varies per platform. For example, fewer cores are available for the iOS or Android version, than for the PC.
Below is a non-exhaustive table of which systems are available to RetroArch and what project the core is based on: ::data[format=table]
| System | Computer system/video game console emulator | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| 3DO | 4DO, Opera | PC, iOS, Android |
| Amiga | PUAE | |
| UAE4ARM | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Amstrad CPC | Caprice32 | |
| CrocoDS | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Arcade | MAME | |
| MESS | ||
| FinalBurn Neo | ||
| FinalBurn Alpha | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Atari 2600 | Stella | PC, iOS, Android |
| Atari 5200 | a5200 | |
| Atari800 | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Atari 7800 | ProSystem | PC, iOS, Android |
| Atari 8-bit computers | Atari800 | PC, iOS, Android |
| Atari Falcon/Atari ST | Hatari | PC |
| Atari Jaguar | Virtual Jaguar | PC |
| Atari Lynx | Mednafen | |
| Handy | PC, iOS, Android | |
| BBC Micro | Acorn | PC, iOS, Android |
| ColecoVision | blueMSX | |
| Gearcoleco | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Commodore 64 | VICE | |
| Frodo | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Commodore 128 | VICE | PC, iOS, Android |
| Commodore CBM-II | VICE | PC, iOS, Android |
| Commodore PET | VICE | PC, iOS, Android |
| Commodore Plus/4 | VICE | PC, iOS, Android |
| Commodore VIC-20 | VICE | PC, iOS, Android |
| DOS | DOSBox | |
| DOSBox-Pure | ||
| DOSBox-SVN | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Electronika BK-0010/BK-0011 | M | PC |
| Fairchild Channel F | FreeChaF | PC, iOS, Android |
| Handheld electronic game | GW | PC, iOS, Android |
| Intellivision | FreeIntv | PC, iOS, Android |
| Mac II | minivmac | PC |
| Mega Duck | SameDuck | PC |
| MSX | fMSX | |
| blueMSX | PC, iOS, Android | |
| NEC PC Engine / CD | Mednafen | PC, iOS, Android |
| NEC TurboGrafx-16 / SuperGrafx | Mednafen | PC, iOS, Android |
| NEC PC-8000 / PC-8800 | QUASI88 | PC |
| NEC PC-98 | Neko Project II Kai | |
| Neko Project II | PC, iOS, Android | |
| NEC PC-FX | Mednafen | PC, iOS, Android |
| NEC TurboGrafx-CD | Mednafen | PC |
| Neo Geo Pocket / Color | Mednafen | |
| RACE | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Nintendo 3DS | Citra | |
| Citra 2018 | PC | |
| Nintendo 64 | Mupen64Plus | |
| Mupen64Plus-Next | ||
| ParaLLEl N64 | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Nintendo DS | DeSmuME | |
| DeSmuME 2015 | ||
| melonDS | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Nintendo Entertainment System | higan | |
| Emux | ||
| FCEUmm | ||
| Nestopia UE | ||
| QuickNES | ||
| Mesen | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Nintendo Famicom Disk System | FCEUmm | |
| Mesen | ||
| Nestopia | ||
| higan | ||
| QuickNES | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Nintendo Game Boy / Color | Emux | |
| Gambatte | ||
| SameBoy | ||
| TGB Dual | ||
| higan | ||
| Mesen-S | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Nintendo Game Boy Advance | Mednafen | |
| gpSP | ||
| Meteor | ||
| mGBA | ||
| VisualBoyAdvance | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Nintendo GameCube | Dolphin | PC,Andriod |
| Nintendo Wii | Dolphin | PC, Andriod |
| Nintendo Pokémon Mini | PokeMini | PC, iOS, Android |
| Odyssey² | O2EM | PC |
| Palm OS | Mu | PC, iOS, Android |
| Philips CD-i | SAME CDi | |
| Cdi 2015 | PC | |
| PlayStation | Mednafen | |
| PCSX ReARMed | ||
| DuckStation | ||
| SwanStation | PC, iOS, Android | |
| PlayStation 2 | Play! | |
| PCSX2 | PC | |
| PlayStation Portable | PPSSPP | PC, iOS, Android |
| Super Nintendo Entertainment System | higan | |
| Mednafen | ||
| bsnes | ||
| Snes9x | ||
| Mesen-S | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Sega 32X | PicoDrive | PC, iOS, Android |
| Sega Dreamcast | Redream | |
| Flycast (formerly Reicast) | PC | |
| Sega Game Gear | Genesis Plus GX | |
| PicoDrive | ||
| SMS Plus GX | ||
| Gearsystem | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Sega Master System | PicoDrive | |
| Genesis Plus GX | ||
| SMS Plus GX | ||
| Gearsystem | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Sega Genesis/Mega Drive | Genesis Plus GX | |
| BlastEm | ||
| PicoDrive | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Sega CD/Mega CD | Genesis Plus GX | |
| PicoDrive | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Sega Saturn | uoYabause | |
| Mednafen | ||
| YabaSanshiro | ||
| Kronos | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Sega ST-V | Kronos | PC |
| Sega VMU | VeMUlator | PC |
| SG-1000 | blueMSX | |
| Gearsystem | PC, iOS, Android | |
| Sharp X1 | X Millennium | PC |
| Spectravideo | blueMSX | PC, iOS, Android |
| Super Cassette Vision | Libretro-EmuSCV | PC |
| Thomson computers | Theodore | PC, iOS, Android |
| Uzebox | Uzem | PC |
| Vectrex | Vecx | PC, iOS, Android |
| Virtual Boy | Mednafen | PC, iOS, Android |
| Watara Supervision | Potator | PC, iOS, Android |
| WonderSwan | Mednafen, Beetle Cygne | PC, iOS, Android |
| X68000 | PX68k | PC, iOS, Android |
| ZX81 | EightyOne | PC |
| ZX Spectrum | Fuse | PC, iOS, Android |
| :: |
Reception
RetroArch has been praised for the number of systems and games it can play under a single interface.
It has been criticized for how difficult it is to configure, due to the extensive number of options available to the user, and at the same time has been praised for the more advanced features it possesses.
On Android, it has been praised for the fact that overlays can be customized, for the expandability of the libretro cores it supports, for its compatibility with several USB and Bluetooth controller peripherals, in addition to the app being free and having no ads.
Kyle Orland, writing for Ars Technica, said that RetroArch's 'Run-Ahead' feature is "arguably the biggest improvement to the experience the retro gaming community has yet seen".
References
References
- "libretro/RetroArch".
- (12 October 2021). "libretro/libretro-samples".
- "Home – Libretro".
- Marín, Daniel. "RetroArch, tutorial: how it works, compatible consoles, games and more".
- Pablinux. (2023-12-12). "RetroArch Web Player, retro console games in the browser".
- Aurora. (2019-12-28). "News: RetroArch FINALLY gets released on PlayStation 4 with 25 cores including PS1, MAME and experimental Nintendo 64 emulators...".
- "Libsnes - libretro/snes9x2010 Wiki". GitHub.
- "SSNES · libretro/RetroArch@eed8e2b".
- "SSNES - The SNES emulator that sucks less. / Community Contributions / Arch Linux Forums".
- "SSNES · libretro/RetroArch@9ab51ad2".
- (11 January 2014). "RetroArch v1.0.0.0 release information – Libretro".
- (16 February 2016). "Day 1 Vulkan support – Libretro".
- (27 November 2016). "We are now on Patreon! – Libretro".
- Matulef, Jeffrey. (2017-06-21). "Sega releases classic games on mobile, for free, but at what cost?".
- Robinson, Martin. (2017-06-26). "Sega defends Sega Forever launch after fan outcry".
- (19 April 2018). "Better than reality: New emulation tech lags less than original consoles".
- Machkovech, Sam. (July 13, 2019). "RetroArch will be Steam's biggest emulation launch yet, coming July 30". [[Ars Technica]].
- De Matteis, Daniel. (August 16, 2020). "Hacker vandalised our buildbot and Github organization".
- Campbell, Ian Carlos. (2020-11-30). "Enterprising developers are emulating PS2 games on the Xbox Series S and X".
- "RetroArch on Steam".
- (May 15, 2024). "RetroArch brings its free multisystem emulation to the iOS App Store". The Verge.
- "Dynamic Rate Control for Retro Game Emulators".
- "RetroArch".
- "ROMs, Playlists, and Thumbnails - Libretro Docs".
- (19 October 2021). "libretro/libretro-database".
- "RetroAchievements.org".
- Matteis, Daniel De. "RetroArch 1.7.8 – AI Service – How To Set It Up – Libretro".
- "libretro-emuscv". Gitlab.
- https://www.maaax.com/emuscv/bin/last/
- "How to Set Up RetroArch, The Ultimate All-In-One Retro Games Emulator".
- Klosowski, Thorin. "How to Set Up an All-In-One Retro Game Emulator with RetroArch". Lifehacker.
- (2017-03-31). "The NES Classic is sold out, but these emulators do the same thing for free". Digital Trends.
- Dachis, Adam. "RetroArch Emulates Nearly Every Classic Gaming Console on Android". Lifehacker.
- "Eight Advanced RetroArch Features that Make Retro Gaming Great Again".
- "RetroArch Emulates NES, PlayStation, Gameboy Color/Advance and a Whole Lot More [Android]". MakeUseOf.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::