Browsing & Inspection

Tools for exploring your ROM collection, viewing ROM details, and inspecting file contents.

ROM Browser

The ROM Browser lets you scan, browse, and manage your entire ROM collection from a single view.

Scanning

  • Click Browse to select a ROM directory.
  • The scanner recursively searches subdirectories for files matching known ROM extensions across 46 supported systems.
  • Results are displayed in a sortable list showing file name, system, and file size.

Filtering

  • Use the System dropdown to filter the list to a specific console or computer.
  • The ROM count updates to show how many files match the active filter.

Searching

  • Type in the Search box to filter ROMs by name, system, or file size.
  • Search results combine with the system filter for fine-grained browsing.

Artwork

  • Selecting a ROM displays box art, screenshots, and title screens fetched from the Libretro Thumbnails repository.
  • Artwork is cached locally after the first download for each ROM, so subsequent views load instantly without a network request.

Big Picture Mode

  • Click Big Picture Mode in the toolbar to switch to a fullscreen, controller-friendly ROM library browser.
  • Big Picture Mode displays ROMs as a card-based grid with color-coded system banners, box art thumbnails, game names, system labels, and file sizes.
  • Use the system filter dropdown, search box, sort options, and ★ Favorites toggle to organize the grid.
  • Sort by name, system, size, or Recently Played to quickly find recently launched games.
  • Mark ROMs as favorites with the F key or the favorite button — use the ★ Favorites filter to show only favorites.
  • A ROM count badge in the status bar shows how many ROMs are currently visible.
  • Press + / − to zoom in or out on the card grid (50%–200%). The zoom level is saved between sessions.
  • Press H or ? to show a keyboard shortcuts help overlay listing all available shortcuts.
  • Press I to show a ROM Info overlay with header details, checksums, and GoodTools codes for the selected ROM.
  • Selecting a card opens a detail panel on the right showing the game title, system badge, favorite button, file info, play count, file path, and artwork (box art, screenshot, title screen).
  • Click Launch with RetroArch in the detail panel to start the game with the appropriate libretro core. The play count is incremented with each launch.
  • Use Random Game to jump to a random ROM (avoids re-selecting the same game), or Rescan to refresh the current folder.
  • Keyboard navigation: arrow keys to browse cards, Enter/Space to launch, F to toggle favorite, I for ROM Info, +/− to zoom, H for help, Escape/Backspace to exit (Escape also defocuses the search box), Tab to focus the search box, Home/End to jump to the first/last card, PageUp/PageDown to scroll by rows.
  • Press Exit Big Picture or Escape to return to the standard ROM Browser view.

Organizing

  • Click Organize to sort all scanned ROMs into system-specific folders (e.g., NES/, SNES/, Sega Genesis/).
  • Choose an output directory and the organizer copies ROMs into the appropriate folders based on detected system type.
  • A summary reports how many files were copied, skipped, or failed.

Send to Remote

  • Select one or more ROMs and click Send to Remote to transfer them to a remote target.
  • Supported protocols: FTP (with FTPS), SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3 / S3-compatible services, Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.
  • Cloud storage providers (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) use OAuth access tokens for authentication.
  • See Remote Transfer Protocols for connection details.

Host & Share

  • Click Host & Share to start a local HTTP server that makes your ROMs available to other devices on the same network.
  • Two hosting modes are supported:
    • Directory mode — serves all ROM files in the currently browsed directory (when no ROMs are selected).
    • Selected ROMs mode — serves only the selected ROM(s) from the list.
  • Configure the listening port (default: 8080) and click Start.
  • The dialog displays one or more LAN URLs that you can share with others. Recipients open the URL in any web browser to browse and download the shared ROMs.
  • A connection log shows incoming requests in real time.
  • The server supports resumable downloads via HTTP range requests.
  • Works cross-platform on Windows, Linux, and macOS with no additional dependencies.

ROM Inspector

The ROM Inspector parses and displays detailed header information for individual ROM files.

Detection

  • System type is auto-detected from file extension and, where possible, from header magic bytes.

Header Information

Parsed fields vary by system but typically include:

  • Game title (internal name stored in the ROM header)
  • Region / country codes
  • Mapper / banking type (NES, SNES, Game Boy)
  • ROM size and RAM size
  • Internal checksums (where applicable)
  • Licensee / publisher codes

Artwork

  • Box art, screenshots, and title screens are fetched from the Libretro Thumbnails repository, the same source used by the ROM Browser.

Hex Viewer

The Hex Viewer displays raw ROM file contents in a standard hexadecimal + ASCII layout.

  • Files are displayed in pages of 512 bytes. Use the Previous / Next buttons or page input to navigate.
  • Enter a hex address in the Go to offset field to jump directly to a specific location.
  • Enter a byte pattern (hex values) to search across the entire file.
  • The viewer highlights and navigates to the first match.