Your retro library's best friend.
Validate, fix, and export your ROM collection across any frontend — without losing your saves.
Romio is a desktop facilitation tool for retro library correctness and frontend interoperability. It is not an emulator. It is not a frontend. It is the compatibility and hygiene layer that answers the questions every retrogaming power user faces:
- Are my BIOS files correct and in the right place for this specific frontend?
- Will my ROM formats actually work with the active emulator?
- Are my saves safe if I update this emulator?
- Why did my scanner create duplicates?
- Is my machine missing runtime dependencies that will cause silent launch failures?
Romio catches these problems before they bite you.
Get the installer for your platform from the Releases page.
| Platform | Installer |
|---|---|
| Windows | Romio_x.x.x_x64-setup.exe |
| macOS | Romio_x.x.x_universal.dmg |
| Linux | Romio_x.x.x_amd64.AppImage |
No dependencies to install. No terminal required. Just download and run.
- Launch Romio and create a new project
- Point it at your ROM library root(s)
- Select your target frontend (ES-DE, RetroBat, LaunchBox, etc.)
- Run the scan — Romio will tell you exactly what's missing, wrong, or at risk
- Follow the guided repair flows
- Export when everything is green
- BIOS validation — hash-first identification, frontend-aware path rules, 5-state output model
- Format compatibility — catches .daphne, standard Xbox ISO, .rvz cross-emulator issues and more
- Save protection — detects save roots at risk before emulator updates, creates checkpoints
- Host environment checks — catches missing VC++, Vulkan, .NET before your first launch attempt
- Multi-disc toolkit — M3U generation with explicit confirmation, no silent grouping
- ScummVM support — pointer file generation, engine:game ID disambiguation
- Installed title validation — shortcut content validity, title ID naming convention checks
- ES-DE quirks encoded — arcade BIOS path rules, .hypseus extension, all silent failures documented
- Preview before write — nothing touches your library without you seeing the change plan first
# Prerequisites: Rust 1.75+, Node 20+, pnpm
git clone https://github.com/Soundchazer2k/romio
cd romio
pnpm install
pnpm tauri devRomio is community-maintained. The most impactful contributions don't require Rust knowledge — the BIOS rules database and emulator matrix live in JSON files that anyone can update.
→ Contributing guide → How to add/update BIOS rules → How to add a frontend adapter
Romio is free software, released under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
The BIOS rules database contains factual hash and placement data only. Romio never distributes, embeds, or links to copyrighted BIOS files.