CHD Manager

A friendly Windows app that converts game disc images from one format to another, and the front end for MAME's chdman: CHD, PBP, CDI, CSO/ZSO, ECM, ISO, CUE/BIN, GDI for PlayStation, Dreamcast, Saturn, Sega CD and PSP, and RVZ, WIA, WBFS, GCZ, CISO, WUX/WUD for GameCube, Wii and Wii U. Add your files, pick what each one should become, and press Start. It works out what each disc is, only offers conversions that can work, checks there is room on the drive before it starts, and verifies what it wrote.

It is portable: one folder, nothing installed. CHD conversions are done by chdman from the MAME project; the other formats are handled by the program's own code.

Each file in the list has an Action drop-down; it only offers what can work for that file.

Also: rebuild a CD's error correction (Mode 1 and Mode 2 Form 1, so a CUE/BIN with blank EDC/ECC data becomes a full-size, correct image), extract the artwork from a PBP, and title cards that give a PBP a readable name and code in the PSP menu when you have no artwork of your own.

Wii discs and keys: turning a Wii disc into RVZ, WIA or WBFS needs either your own copy of Dolphin (the program just runs its DolphinTool.exe) or your own Wii key. This program contains no key and never downloads one; see Wii and GameCube. Everything else, including reading any format and converting GameCube or Wii U discs, needs neither.

• Drag and drop files or folders onto the window or the exe, or use Add Files / Add Folder. Folders are searched recursively.
• One Action choice per file. Click the cell to change it, or the Action heading to set it for every file that can do it. A skipped job says why.
• CD or DVD, detected automatically for CHD, with the platform labelled (PS1, PS2, PSP, Dreamcast, Saturn, Sega CD, GameCube, Wii, Wii U). Right-click to force CD or DVD.
• Any format to any format it can produce. Where there is no direct route the program goes through a temporary, uncompressed CHD, so every target is written by the same code whatever the source.
• Safety. Optional verify after each conversion (a CHD's SHA-1, or reading the result back and comparing it with the source for the formats that allow it). Optional "send sources to the Recycle Bin", only after a verified result. Optionally delete them permanently instead, which frees the space at once (off by default, with a warning).
• Disk-space check. Before each job the program estimates the most space it will use, including temporary files, and refuses it with a plain message when it clearly won't fit, instead of failing halfway and leaving a partial file.
• Suggested settings. Looks at your PC and your queue and fills in thread count, compression and so on, with the reason for each.
• File names from the game's title, ID or region (%FILENAME% %GAMEID% %TITLE% %MAINTITLE% %REGION%), using PlayStation game data or the name stored on a GameCube/Wii disc.
• Command line (chdm): the same conversions without a window. See Command line.
• Updates. The two version buttons at the bottom of the window (chdman on the left, the program on the right) are also the update buttons. Updates are checksum-verified, test-run, and never installed without you confirming.
• Progress and log for every job, a summary of the space you saved, a dark and a light theme, and a settings window with an About page and a Copy diagnostics button for bug reports (it leaves out your folder paths and user name).

1. Get the zip from the Releases page and unzip it anywhere.
2. Run CHD Manager.exe.
3. Click Add Files or Add Folder (or drag them in), check the Action column, and press Start.

Windows 10/11, 64-bit. Python is not needed. Settings are saved in chd_manager_settings.json next to the exe.

About warnings: the exe is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may say "unknown publisher" (choose More info → Run anyway) and some antivirus programs are suspicious of this kind of packaged Python program. If you would rather not run a binary, run it from source or build it yourself.

• GameCube discs work with no setup in every direction (ISO, RVZ, WIA, GCZ, CISO).
• Wii discs can always be read, and written to ISO, GCZ and CISO. To write RVZ, WIA or WBFS the program needs one of these (open Settings, Formats, Wii setup, or use the prompt at startup):
  1. Dolphin on your PC. Show the program where Dolphin is. It runs Dolphin's own DolphinTool.exe for those conversions; no key is needed.
  2. Your own Wii key. Put it in the keys folder next to the program (a text file holding the 32-character key), choose the file, or paste it in the setup window.
• The program does not include a Wii key and never fetches one. Without either option those three conversions are simply not offered.
• Wii U discs (.wux, .wud) need nothing.

The chdm.cmd launcher in the zip runs the same conversions without a window and passes on the exit code (0 = everything done or skipped, 1 = something failed, 2 = wrong command line):

chdm game.cue --to chd -o D:\chd
chdm game.chd --to pbp --level 9 -o D:\psp
chdm D:\roms --to chd --exists overwrite --log convert.txt
chdm game.chd game2.iso --list
chdm --help

--list shows what each file can become. In cmd, run it as .\chdm (or put the folder on your PATH). The exe alone returns immediately because it is a windowed program; the launcher is what waits.

If a PS2 game on a CD slightly exceeds the size limit, or anything else is detected wrongly, right-click it and force the type. Many PS2 CHDs you find online are CD-type; this program builds DVD-type CHDs for big ISOs. Both are valid and both booted in PCSX2, but check that one game boots before converting a collection.

The program is offline except for the update checks, each with its own on/off switch (chdman on the Output page of the settings window, the program on its About page):

• At startup it asks GitHub for the latest MAME release number and the latest CHD Manager release. It never downloads anything by itself.
• When you confirm a CHD Manager update it downloads the release zip from this repo, verifies its SHA-256, and only then replaces itself. When you confirm a chdman update it downloads the official release from github.com/mamedev/mame (opening it needs 7-Zip; the app can install it with winget if you agree).
• Two optional downloads, each only on request and checked against a fixed checksum: the base PBP files for a real PSP (from iPoPS) and a refreshed game list.

Needs Python 3 with tkinter (tested with 3.12), chdman.exe from a MAME release next to the script, and pip install zstandard for RVZ and ZSO:

python CHD_Manager.pyw

Needs Python 3 (tested with 3.12) and 7-Zip.

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build.ps1

This installs PyInstaller and zstandard, downloads the latest official chdman and the game list (checking the SHA-256 of both), builds CHD Manager.exe, and writes the portable folder and a zip to dist/. Use -ChdmanPath to supply your own chdman.

Everything below was run on Windows 11 with chdman 0.289. The program's own code is driven by automated test scripts; the sample discs are my own backups.

CHD, PBP, CDI and image formats (versions 1.x, still passing): 42 real discs (6 Dreamcast GD-ROM, 3 Dreamcast CD, 16 PS1, 17 PS2) verified, extracted and rebuilt with the same data SHA-1 as the originals; boots in PCSX2 nightly, DuckStation and RetroArch/Flycast. PBP files (including a 2-disc and a 4-disc game) were converted both ways and booted in DuckStation; on a real PSP (6.61 ARK-5 custom firmware) a one-disc game made with the downloaded base booted and played, and a 2-disc game booted and switched to disc 2. CDI files for four Dreamcast CD-Rs were read back and compared; three booted in Flycast and the fourth reached its title screen. MDS/MDF, NRG, IMG and CCD images each gave a CHD with the expected data checksum.

New in 2.0:

Not tested:

• Any of the new formats on real hardware or in every emulator: RVZ/WIA/GCZ/CISO/WBFS were checked against Dolphin's tool but not played in Dolphin; ZSO was not tried in PPSSPP or PCSX2; the new title cards were not tried on a real PSP; Wii U output was not tried in Cemu.
• Files made by other programs for some formats: CISO, GCZ, WIA with purge compression, and split WBFS files; ECM files made by other tools; ECM's "Form 2" sector type.
• WBFS shrinking of an unscrubbed disc (the samples were already scrubbed); the Dolphin route for WBFS was only proven on those.
• CISO cannot store a disc's exact size (the last block is always kept).
• Multi-track .nrg files, CloneCD files made by CloneCD itself, multi-session images, CDI files in DiscJuggler itself, PBPs on a PSP Go, Vita or PS Classic, discs 3 and later of multi-disc games, and playing any game all the way through.
• Other versions of chdman or Windows.

• chdman is from the MAME project and its authors. This program is not made by, affiliated with, or endorsed by MAME. "MAME" is a registered trademark of Gregory Ember.
• The GameCube and Wii disc code is a Python port of parts of the Dolphin emulator's DiscIO code (GPL-2.0-or-later), and is the reason this project is GPL. Not affiliated with Dolphin.
• The ECM format and reference tools are by Neill Corlett; ZSO uses the LZ4 block format by Yann Collet; PBP and CDI layouts were worked out with help from PSXPackager (MIT, RupertAvery), whose gameInfo.db game list ships in the zip. The Wii U formats follow the public format descriptions (the Cemu source was consulted as a reference).
• The optional base PBP files for real-PSP use are downloaded on request from iPoPS (MIT); they are not part of this project.
• Built with help from Claude (Anthropic); designed and tested by Mr-Shizzy.
• This project includes no games, BIOS files, Wii keys or other copyrighted game content. Use it only with discs you own.

CHD Manager is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or (at your option) any later version. The release also bundles chdman, Python, Tcl/Tk and zstandard, whose licenses are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt.