Table of contents
We use special emulators that support tools such as savestate and frame advance, and generate movie files from them. These movie files are nothing more than a recording of input. They do not contain images or video. All movie format specifications can be found here.
Disclaimer: The majority of rerecording emulators are third-party modifications of existing open-source emulators. In most cases, only these rerecording emulators can play and make TASes, and not the official emulator.
We do not by any means claim that using any of these emulators will guarantee "correct" results. There may be bugs in these emulators which have gone unnoticed due to lack of testing.
You should read DesyncHelpTAS before making any serious projects. All movies are highly dependent on the timing and the slightest difference may cause a desync. We cannot help you if you lose work due to desync problems. You must also read the Movie Rules if you plan to submit your work to this site.
For a comprehensive list of supported Platforms and their emulators, see the Platforms page.
Emulator overview
| System | Emulator | Movie Format |
|---|---|---|
| Arcade/Neo Geo | Final Burn Alpha | FBM |
| DOS | JPC-RR | JRSR |
| GameCube/Wii | Dolphin | DTM |
| GBA | Visual Boy Advance | VBM |
| GB/GBC/SGB | BizHawk | BKM |
| GB/GBC | lsnes | LSMV |
| Genesis/Sega CD/32x | Gens | GMV |
| Master System/Game Gear/SG-1000 | BizHawk | TAS/BKM |
| MSX | OpenMSX | OMR[2] |
| NES | BizHawk | BKM |
| NES | FCEUX | FM2/FM3 |
| Nintendo 64 | BizHawk | BKM |
| Nintendo 64 | Mupen64-rr (pending deprecation) | M64 |
| Nintendo DS | DeSmuME | DSM |
| PCE/PCE-CD (TG-16)/SGX | BizHawk | TAS/BKM |
| Playstation | PSXjin | PJM |
| Saturn | BizHawk | BKM |
| SNES | BizHawk | BKM |
| SNES/SGB | lsnes | LSMV |
| Virtual Boy | VBjin | MC2 |
| Atari 2600 | BizHawk | TAS/BKM |
| Atari 7800 | BizHawk | TAS/BKM |
| ColecoVision | BizHawk | TAS/BKM |
| Windows | Hourglass[3] | WTF |
| (multi)[1] | Mednafen | MC2 |
| System | Emulator | Movie Format |
|---|---|---|
| Master System/Game Gear | Dega (altered versions) | MMV |
| NES | FCE Ultra | FCM |
| Nintendo 64 | Anti-DS Mupen] | M64 |
| Playstation | PCSX | PXM |
| TG-16] | Pcejin | MC2 |
| Saturn | Yabause | YMV |
| System | Emulator | Movie Format |
|---|---|---|
| GB/GBC/SGB | Visual Boy Advance | VBM |
| SNES | Snes9x[4] | SMV |
| System | Emulator | Movie Format |
|---|---|---|
| DOOM demo | (various) | LMP |
See also: Other Emulators.
Supported Operating Systems
Tell us, if one of the entries is wrong or if you can resolve one of the "Unknown" ones to a "Yes" or "No". If in doubt, just test it yourself.
| Emulator | Windows | Linux | Mac OS X |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final Burn Alpha | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| Dolphin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Visual Boy Advance | Yes | Yes (with Wine) | Unknown |
| BizHawk | Yes | Yes (with Mono)[5] | Yes (with Mono)[5] |
| lsnes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gens | Yes | Yes (with Wine)[6] | Unknown |
| OpenMSX | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FCEUX | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mupen64-rr | Yes | Yes (with Wine) | Unknown |
| DeSmuME | Yes | Unknown[7] | Unknown[7] |
| PSXjin | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| VBjin | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| Hourglass[3] | Yes | No | No |
| Mednafen | Yes | Yes | Unknown |
| Dega (altered versions) | Yes | Yes | Unknown |
| FCE Ultra | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| PCSX | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| Pcejin | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| Yabause | Yes | Unknown | Unknown |
| Snes9x[4] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Explanation:
- "Yes": The emulator compiles and runs. Limitations are given via annotations (e.g. "Yes (with Wine)") or footnotes.
- "No": The emulator does not compile or run at all (even with Wine).
- "Unknown": It is neither known whether the emulator compiles nor whether it runs at all.
Using Emulators
- Using: Instructions on how to perform common tasks on different emulators. For more specifications, see each emulator's Google Code page.
- Encoding Guide: Instructions on how to encode movies into high quality multimedia files suitable for easy viewing. (You do not need this for submitting movies.)
Development
- Recent emulator updates: Recent changes to the rerecording emulators.
- Recent emulator bug reports: Recent bug reports to the rerecording emulators.
- Desired features: Lists emulator features wished by users, and compares the features of different emulators.
- Development: List information about source code projects, how to compile, and how to contribute to emulator development.
- Grrl: A project for a Linux version of Gens.
- Potential emulators: List of ideas for developers. Lists non-approved open source emulators with links and status of their development.
- TASVideos Requirements: Lists emulator features required by this site.
- Emulator task list: open development tasks for emulators in use on the site.
Accuracy tests
Subpages
Unknown module listsubpages
[1]: Mednafen supports all flavors of TurboGrafx/PC-Engine, including CD-ROM. It also supports Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket/Color, and Wonderswan/Color. It also supports PC-FX, but only for the Linux version.
[2] Using older .gz extension is no longer supported.
[3] Technically speaking, Hourglass is not an emulator.
[4] Movies using Snes9x v1.43 are not accepted unless a continuance is granted. Movies using Snes9x v1.51 or up are accepted but the emulator is deprecated.
[5] Working cores include NES, SMS/GG/SG-1000, TI-83, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, PCE and Genesis (not approved!). There's no support for Lua.
[6] AVI capture may be dysfunctional.
[7] There are native versions, but those don't seem to be rerecording.