Recommended File Types & Compression for ROMS

For any where the best file type is a .ZIP, it’s a very easy process to do. Let’s say you have a bunch of Game Boy ROM’s, and they’re all .GB. In Windows, if you right click on one of them then click Send to, Compressed (zipped) folder, it’ll ZIP them for you. Once you do that for each game, just delete the original .GB files.

Just keep in mind that not every device or emulator will like .ZIP files, so that’s why I include the actual file types below just in case.

Let’s jump into the best file types for each platform.

Arcade – FinalBurn Neo

• ZIP

Microsoft XBOX

• ISO

Microsoft XBOX 360

• ISO

Nintendo 3DS

• 3DS (Games)
• CIA (Updates/DLC)

Neo Geo Pocket Color

• ZIP
• NGC

Nintendo 64

• ZIP
• Z64

Nintendo DS

• ZIP
• NDS

Nintendo Entertainment System

• ZIP
• NES

Nintendo Game Boy

• ZIP
• GB

Nintendo Game Boy Advance

• ZIP
• GBA

Nintendo Game Boy Color

• ZIP
• GBC

Nintendo GameCube

• RVZ

Nintendo Switch

• NSP

Nintendo Wii

• RVZ

Nintendo Wii U

• WUA

Sega Dreamcast

• CHD

For Sega Dreamcast, you should be using CHD files.

Download this tool here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/ts6q224gxu9qn9h/chdman.zip/file. This lets you convert your .GDI to CHD.

You cannot convert from .BIN/.CUE to .CHD, it can only be done from .GDI. This CHDMAN is different than the others on the page and is meant to only work for Dreamcast.

Extract that tool, put your ROMS in the folder with the tool and run the GDI to CHD.bat. It’ll auto convert them to CHD.

Sega Game Gear

• ZIP
• GG

Sega Genesis

• ZIP
• MD

Sega Master System

• ZIP
• MS

Sega Saturn

• CHD

For Sega Saturn, you should be using CHD files.

Download this tool here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/bcid7sw82kbsn8s/chdman.zip/file. This lets you convert your .cue, .iso or .gdi to CHD.

Extract that tool, put your ROMS in the folder with the tool and run the Cue or GDI to CHD.bat. It’ll auto convert them to CHD.

Sony PlayStation

• CHD

For Sony PlayStation, you should be using CHD files.

Download this tool here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/bcid7sw82kbsn8s/chdman.zip/file. This lets you convert your .cue, .iso or .gdi to CHD.

Extract that tool, put your ROMS in the folder with the tool and run the Cue or GDI to CHD.bat. It’ll auto convert them to CHD.

Sony PlayStation 2

• CHD

For Sony PlayStation 2, you should be using CHD files.

Download this tool here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/bcid7sw82kbsn8s/chdman.zip/file. This lets you convert your .cue, .iso or .gdi to CHD.

Extract that tool, put your ROMS in the folder with the tool and run the Cue or GDI to CHD.bat. It’ll auto convert them to CHD.

Sony PlayStation 3

• Multiple ways

For Sony PlayStation 3, there’s sort of multiple ways. A lot of times they come as .ISO files, which is great. But some games come as a folder, and inside is a PS3_GAME and PS3_DISC.SFB file. You can add that folder to RPCS3 and it’ll detect it as a game.

For .ISO, you may need to decrypt it, in which case you can follow the instructions here to do so: https://github.com/13xforever/ps3-disc-dumper.

You can then put it back into a decrypted ISO using: https://www.psx-place.com/resources/ps3-iso-tools.68/.

Sony PlayStation Portable

• CHD*
• ISO*

For Sony PlayStation Portable, you should be using CHD files, however, because CHD support was added in a later version of PPSSPP, a lot of handhelds use an older version that won’t work with CHD, so it’s advised to keep a library of CHD and ISO roms (or just ISO roms if you prefer).

If you want to convert to CHD, do the following (does not delete the original ISO).

Download this tool here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/a5fw1gkh8jpe766/chdman.zip/file. This lets you convert your .cue, .iso or .gdi to CHD.

This CHDMAN uses the CREATEDVD function, so it’s different than all the other CHDMAN’s on this page, you should only use this specific one for PSP only.

Extract that tool, put your ROMS in the folder with the tool and run the Cue or GDI to CHD – DVD.bat. It’ll auto convert them to CHD.

Sony PlayStation Vita

• ZIP

Super Nintendo

• ZIP
• SFC