RetroArch is the reference frontend for the libretro API. Popular examples of implementations for this API includes video game system emulators and game engines as well as more generalized 3D programs. These programs are instantiated as dynamic libraries. We refer to these as "libretro cores".
libretro is an API that exposes generic audio/video/input callbacks. A frontend for libretro (such as RetroArch) handles video output, audio output, input and application lifecycle. A libretro core written in portable C or C++ can run seamlessly on many platforms with very little to no porting effort.
While RetroArch is the reference frontend for libretro, several other projects have used the libretro interface to include support for emulators and/or game engines. libretro is completely open and free for anyone to use.
Latest binaries are currently hosted on the buildbot.
To reach developers, either make an issue here on GitHub, make a thread on the forum, chat on discord, or visit our IRC channel: #retroarch @ irc.freenode.org. You could create a post in Reddit with Technical Support flair.
See our Documentation Center. On Unix, man-pages are provided. More developer-centric stuff is found here.
- Cg/HLSL shaders: common-shaders
- slang shaders: slang-shaders
- GLSL shaders: glsl-shaders
- Helper scripts to build libretro implementations: libretro-super
- GitHub mirrors of projects, useful for generating diff files: libretro-mirrors
RetroArch attempts to be small and lean while still having all the useful core features expected from an emulator. It is designed to be very portable and features a gamepad-centric and touchscreen UI. It also has a full-featured command-line interface.
In some areas, RetroArch goes beyond and emphasizes on not-so-common technical features such as multi-pass shader support, real-time rewind (Braid-style), video recording (using FFmpeg), run-ahead input latency removal, etc.
RetroArch also emphasizes being easy to integrate into various launcher frontends.
RetroArch has been ported to the following platforms:
- Android (2.x to most recent version)
- Apple iOS
- Apple macOS (PPC, x86-32 and x86-64)
- Apple tvOS
- Blackberry
- DOS
- Emscripten (WebAssembly and JavaScript)
- FreeBSD
- Haiku
- Linux
- Microsoft Xbox 360 (Libxenon/XeXDK)
- Microsoft Xbox One
- Microsoft Xbox Series S/X
- Miyoo
- NetBSD
- Nintendo 3DS/2DS
- Nintendo GameCube
- Nintendo NES/SNES Classic Edition
- Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo Wii
- Nintendo Wii U
- OpenBSD
- OpenDingux
- Original Microsoft Xbox
- PlayStation2
- PlayStation3
- PlayStation4
- PlayStation Portable
- PlayStation Vita
- Raspberry Pi
- ReactOS
- RetroFW
- RS90
- SerenityOS
- Solaris
- Windows 10
- Windows 11
- Windows 2000
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows 95
- Windows 98
- Windows Millennium
- Windows NT 3.5
- Windows Vista
- Windows XP
There are no true hard dependencies per se.
On Windows, RetroArch can run with only Win32 as dependency.
On Linux, there are no true dependencies. For optimal usage, the following dependencies come as recommended:
- GL headers / Vulkan headers
- X11 headers and libs, or EGL/KMS/GBM
OSX port of RetroArch requires latest versions of XCode to build.
RetroArch can utilize these libraries if enabled:
- nvidia-cg-toolkit
- libfreetype2 (TTF font rendering on screen)
RetroArch needs at least one of these audio driver libraries:
- ALSA
- OSS
- RoarAudio
- RSound
- OpenAL
- JACK
- SDL
- PulseAudio
- XAudio2 (Win32, Xbox 360)
- DirectSound (Win32, Xbox 1)
- CoreAudio (OSX, iOS)
To run properly, RetroArch requires a libretro implementation present; however, as it's typically loaded dynamically, it's not required at build time.
Console ports have their own dependencies, but generally do not require anything other than what the respective SDKs provide.
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