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Formatting ROMs
How to format, convert, archive, or batch process ROMs.
Please refer to the Known Issues regarding Formatting ROMs, and read Issues Usage before posting a new one.
Atari | 2600 | .a26 (.bin) |
| 5200 | .a52 (.bin) |
| 7800 | .a78 (.bin) |
| Jaguar | .j64 , .jag (.bin, .rom) |
| Lynx | .lnx |
Bandai | WonderSwan | .ws |
| WonderSwan Color | .wsc |
NEC | PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 | .pce |
| PC Engine Super CD-ROM² System / TurboGrafx-CD | .cue + .bin/iso , .ccd + .img + .sub multi-file ROM |
| PC-FX | .cue + .bin/iso , .ccd + .img + .sub multi-file ROM |
Nintendo | Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System | .nes |
| Famicom Disk System | .fds |
| Game Boy | .gb |
| Super Famicom / Super Nintendo Entertainment System | .snes , .smc , .sfc , .fig |
| Game Boy Color | .gbc , .sgb |
| Virtual Boy | .vb |
| Nintendo 64 | .n64 , .z64 |
| Game Boy Advance | .gba |
| Pokemon mini | .min |
Sega | SG-1000 | .sg |
| Master System | .sms |
| Mega Drive / Genesis | .md , .smd , .gen (.bin) |
| Game Gear | .gg |
| Mega CD / Sega CD | .cue + .bin multi-file ROM |
| 32X | .32X , .32x |
| Saturn | .iso , .cue + .bin/iso , .ccd + .img + .sub , .mds + .mdf multi-file ROM |
SNK | Neo Geo Pocket | .ngp |
| Neo Geo Pocket Color | .ngc , .ngpc , .npc |
Sony | Playstation | .cue + .bin/img/iso , .ccd + .img + .sub multi-file ROM |
- DO NOT rename multi-file ROMs unless you alter
.cue
file contents as well.
° Though not required, it's recommended to archive all ROMs, individually.
Supported Formats |
---|
.zip , .7z |
Loose files only. DO NOT contain folder(s) within an archive (this is a known issue and will result in a crash)!
A ROM consisting of multiple files such as
.bin
+ .cue
for CD-based games (Sega CD, Playstation, etc…) must be contained together in a single .zip
or .7z
archive before importing and both files are required.¹Examples of ROM archive contents:
[game].bin
[game].cue
[game] (Track 1).bin
[game] (Track 2).bin
[game].cue
[game].ccd
[game].img
[game].sub
If .ccd based ROMs are not importing correctly, move files into the system directory, manually, when left behind in Imports or Conflicts.
Loose files only. DO NOT contain folder(s) within an archive (this is a known issue and will result in a crash)!
.cue
files are plain text and will generally look something like this (unless it specifies additional audio track details). The name of the referenced file: .bin
, .img
, .iso
… specified file must match verbatim the name of the actual file.²Contents of [game].cue:
FILE "[game].bin" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
¹ If you need to restore a missing/damaged
.cue
file, check out the archives at redump.org.
² If you rename any files of a.cue
based multi-file ROM, you must change the contents of the .cue
file or they won't work.…archive filenames, however, are irrelevant as they are discarded after unarchiving.
All multi-disc games must include a
.m3u
file in their .zip
or .7z
multi-file ROM archive. Disc numbering in filenames needs to be formatted exactly as: …(Disc #).ext
If renaming and using **a .cue based **ROM make sure to read the requirements for .cue files in Multi-file ROMs.
Contents of Final Fantasy VII (USA).7z:
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 1).bin
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 1).cue
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 2).bin
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 2).cue
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 3).bin
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 3).cue
Final Fantasy VII (USA).m3u
.m3u
files can be created as plain text and must contain and match exactly the names of all and only the .cue
or .ccd
files for the game.³Contents of Final Fantasy VII (USA).m3u:
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 1).cue
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 2).cue
Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 3).cue
³
.m3u
filenames are independent of the .bin/.cue
files, but a truncated name is recommended, removing " (Disc #)" from the .m3u filename (including the space).- Cartridge-based ROMs generally do not need converting. Formats like
.bin
vs.md
or.gen
(Sega Genesis) or.sfc
vs.smc
(Super Nintendo) are generally just different filename extensions for the same format to simplify identifying shared formats across systems and avoid conflicts. They are basically interchangeable and you can simply rename them to a supported extension. - CD-based ROMs require certain supported formats…
- If you have part of a supported multi-file ROM, but are missing the additional file(s) such as
.cue
,.ccd
,.sub
… to complete it, you may want to check out the archives at redump.org in order to restore it properly, or try replacing the ROM entirely from a different source. - If your filetypes are not supported, you may need to convert them with a disc image conversion app.
Mac
- 1.
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
- 2.Install via Homebrew with:
brew install ecm
- 3.Use
unecm [path to .ecm file]
to restore the original format.
The Terminal app can be found in: /Applications/Utilities
Windows
Requirements:
Setup
- 1.Set your default app unarchiving (
.zip
,.7z
,.rar
, etc…) to Keka:- 1.Select a single archive per filetype and File→Get Info (
⌘I
) - 2.Change
Open with:
to Keka and hitChange All…
.
- 2.Open Keka and select
.7z
or .zip
and the following settings:☑️Solid archive.7z
☑️Exclude Mac resource forks☑️Delete file(s) after compression
Archive
- 1.Drag & Drop ROM file (or files if multi-file ROM, such as
.cue + .bin
) onto Keka. Done.
Loose files only. DO NOT contain folder(s) within an archive (this is a known issue and will result in a crash)!
(coming later…)
__
⚠️ This only applies to single file ROMs. DO NOT batch process multi-file ROMs using the methods below.
Mac
- 1.Setup and Requirements from Archiving.
If Unarchiving, first…
- 1.In Finder, Select all (
⌘A
) ROM archives and File→Open (⌘O
) to unarchive all. - 2.When complete, the Finder should still have all the archives selected. Delete them all (
⌘␡
).
If Renaming files…
- 1.In Finder, Select all (
⌘A
) ROMs and Right-Click toRename items…
Example:Replace Text:
Find:.bin
Replace with….md
If Re-archiving…
- 1.In Keka, enable: ☑️Archive as single files
- 2.In Finder, Select all (
⌘A
) ROMs and drop them all onto Keka. Done.
If Renaming files…
- 1.Open the Command Prompt with
⊞R
and typecmd
- 2.Enter
cd
and the [file-path] to a set of ROMs. [file-path]: right-click the folder and select "Properties" and apply via copy/paste. - 3.Example:
rename *.bin *.md
- Folders within an archive will result in crash. Archive loose files only.
__
Last modified 10mo ago