Home : Extensions : .chd files

.chd File Extension

File Type MAME Hard Disk Image

Developer The MAME Team
Category Game files
File Format Binary

CHD file type

Arcade game disk image used by some MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) emulator games; stores a compressed version of the entire contents of an arcade machine's hard disk; used in conjunction with a game ROM to load the game.

More Information

To load a MAME arcade game, you typically need to place the CHD file in a directory has the same name as the ROM's filename prefix (some emulators use a single generic directory for all CHD files). For example, for a ROM with the filename mygame.zip, a CHD file named mygame.chd, and a ROM directory Roms, emulators commonly use the following convention:

  • /Roms/mygame.zip
  • /Roms/mygame/mygame.chd
Some CHD files are large in size due to the original size of the arcade hard disk. Therefore, even though CHD files are compressed, they may still require large amounts of disk space.

Programs that open CHD files

Windows
MAME
ExtraMAME
Linux
MAME
Macintosh
MacMAME
MAME OS X

About CHD Files

Our goal is to explain what .chd file is used for for and how to open it.

File MAME Hard Disk Image usage cases for Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS software listed on this page have been individually researched and verified using the FilesWiki team. We strive for 100% accuracy and only publish information about file formats that we have tested and verified.