What is MAMEdev.org?

Updated

MAMEdev.org is the official website of the MAME Development Team and the home of The MAME Project. It is a development and documentation hub for MAME, a multi-purpose emulation framework whose stated purpose is to preserve decades of software history by documenting hardware and how it functions. It is not a ROM distribution site: the site centers on project information, downloads of MAME itself, documentation, and news.

Who runs it and what it is for

The site is maintained by the MAME Development Team. Its own description frames MAME as a preservation project first and an emulator second — the source code serves as documentation of the emulated hardware, and the fact that the software is usable mainly validates how accurately that hardware has been recreated.

Over time, MAME (originally "Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator") absorbed the sister project MESS (Multi Emulator Super System). As a result, it now documents a wide variety of mostly vintage computers, video game consoles, and calculators, in addition to the arcade video games it started with.

What you can find on the site

The navigation reflects a project hub rather than a download portal for game content:

Section What it covers
Information About, History, Legal, Logo, Contact
Resources Downloads (latest and previous releases), ROMs, Documentation, MAMEdev Wiki, FAQ, emulated system guides
Community Official forums, GitHub discussions, IRC chat, Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook
Development MAME on GitHub, compiling MAME, technical specifications, source code browser, development tools
News Release announcements and project updates

The "ROMs" entry under Resources is a documentation-oriented page about ROMs and how MAME handles them, not a place to obtain copyrighted game data.

Licensing and trademark

  • The MAME project as a whole is distributed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPL-2.0), since it contains code under multiple GPL-compatible licenses.
  • Over 90% of files, including core files, are under the BSD-3-Clause License, and the project encourages new contributors to distribute files under that license.
  • "MAME" is a registered trademark of Gregory Ember. Permission is required to use the MAME name, logo, or wordmark.

Releases and news

The News section carries release announcements. For example, the MAME 0.289 announcement (dated 31 Jul 2026) describes a large update and notes several platform-level changes: Windows binary releases now include the SDL sound output and joystick input modules; the sdljoy joystick input module supports game controllers with up to 128 buttons; the Win32 debugger module handles dynamic UI scaling changes; and outputs were overhauled for performance and bug fixes, with a note that existing configurations may need updating.

When to use it

  • Use MAMEdev.org if you want the official MAME binaries, source code, compilation instructions, or technical documentation.
  • Use it to check licensing terms before redistributing or rebranding anything MAME-related.
  • Do not expect it to supply ROMs or other copyrighted game data; it is a development and documentation site.