libretro/emulators/ruffle.yml

emulator: ruffle
type: standalone
core_classification: game_engine
source: "https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle"
upstream: "https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle"
profiled_date: "2026-09-17"
source_commit: "ed55e72394d21d7784b0a914fd4525608c6a5661"
core_version: "0.6.0"
display_name: "Adobe Flash (Ruffle)"
cores:
  - ruffle
systems:
  - flash
mode: standalone

notes: |
  Flash Player and Adobe AIR runtime written in Rust, playing SWF files of any
  ActionScript version, as a desktop binary or as a WebAssembly browser build.
  Versioned releases sit next to the nightlies: Batocera 43.1 compiles the
  nightly-2026-01-31 tag and installs ruffle_desktop as ruffle, RetroDECK pulls
  the rs.ruffle.Ruffle Flathub build. ES-DE runs it as `ruffle --fullscreen
  <rom>`, Batocera as `ruffle <rom>`, RetroBat as `ruffle.exe --graphics
  <renderer> --force-align -q <quality> <rom>`, RetroDECK as `ruffle --graphics
  vulkan --config /var/data/ruffle --save-directory <saves>/ruffle <rom>`. The
  ActionScript class library is compiled by build_playerglobal into
  playerglobal_avm1.swf and playerglobal_avm2.swf and linked into the binary
  from OUT_DIR (core/src/avm1/globals.rs:88, core/src/avm2/globals.rs:549), so
  startup reads nothing. Locale texts, wgsl shaders, the window icon and the
  OpenH264 license are embedded the same way (desktop/src/gui/locale.rs:7-12,
  desktop/src/app.rs:464, render/wgpu/src/shaders.rs:30-95,
  desktop/src/gui/movie.rs:44,
  desktop/src/gui/dialogs/preferences_dialog.rs:517).

  H.264 video is the one external dependency. external_video is a default
  feature and pulls ruffle_video_external with openh264
  (desktop/Cargo.toml:27,84,92), and enable_openh264 defaults to true
  (desktop/src/preferences.rs:291,316). OpenH264Codec::load first dlopens the
  system sonames libopenh264.so.7, libopenh264.so.2.4.1 and libopenh264.so on
  Linux, then falls back to <cache>/ruffle/video/ and fetches the Cisco binary
  from ciscobinary.openh264.org bz2-compressed into it
  (video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:53-56,109-133,173-191,
  desktop/src/player.rs:234-241). Whether the library was already there or was
  just downloaded, its SHA-256 is checked before loading and the size is read
  only to format the mismatch message
  (video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:135-146), and WelsGetCodecVersion must
  answer 2.4.1 exactly (video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:46,153-166). The
  cache root comes from dirs::cache_dir(), ~/.cache/ruffle by default, and
  --cache-directory moves it (desktop/src/cli.rs:31-35,148). Without the library
  the player still starts: ExternalVideoBackend wraps SoftwareVideoBackend, so
  H.263, Screen Video and VP6 keep decoding and only H.264 streams fail
  (video/external/src/backend.rs:41,51-69,73-80).

  Text uses system fonts. fontdb::Database::load_system_fonts() fills the
  database at startup (desktop/src/app.rs:433-434), and both the Flash device
  fonts and the egui menu bar resolve family names against it and take whatever
  face the host answers with (desktop/src/backends/ui.rs:321-360,
  desktop/src/gui/controller.rs:741-787). The face is memory-mapped and parsed
  by Ruffle's own rasterizer unless preferences.toml sets device_font_renderer
  to freetype, which routes Linux builds through FreetypeFontRenderer instead;
  the freetype default feature only compiles that branch, the preference
  selects it (desktop/src/backends/ui.rs:190-192,443-487,489-519,
  desktop/src/preferences/read.rs:74-75, desktop/Cargo.toml:84). The families
  asked for are Times New Roman, Arial, Courier New and their metric-compatible
  substitutes, plus the CJK, Hebrew, Arabic and Thai faces
  (desktop/src/player.rs:361-414, desktop/src/gui/controller.rs:620-694), and
  on Unix fontconfig sorts the fallback chain
  (desktop/src/backends/ui.rs:363-376,536-628). No name, path, size or hash is
  fixed anywhere. The compiled-in Noto Sans subset sits behind the default_font
  feature, which the web and exporter crates enable and the desktop build does
  not (core/src/player.rs:84-85, core/Cargo.toml:82,95, web/Cargo.toml:63-65,
  exporter/Cargo.toml:16, desktop/Cargo.toml:23), so on the desktop an
  unmatched family leaves the run without that face rather than falling back
  to a bundled one.

  Files the player writes rather than expects: preferences.toml, bookmarks.toml
  and recents.toml under --config, each defaulted when absent
  (desktop/src/preferences.rs:54-96), .sol SharedObjects under --save-directory
  (frontend-utils/src/backends/storage.rs:31-60, desktop/src/cli.rs:137-138),
  and the log file under <cache>/ruffle/log (desktop/src/main.rs:165-176).
  ruffle-bundle.toml is the manifest inside a .ruf bundle, which is content
  alongside the .swf rather than a runtime input
  (frontend-utils/src/bundle/info.rs:11, frontend-utils/src/bundle.rs:42-53).
  mms.cfg is not implemented, the name appears only in an AVM2 error string
  (core/src/avm2/error_messages.rs:237).

files:
  # -- OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder, one build per OS and architecture --

  - name: libopenh264-2.4.1-linux64.7.so
    path: "video/libopenh264-2.4.1-linux64.7.so"
    system: flash
    required: false
    description: "OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder library, Linux x86_64"
    sha256: "1392d21466bc638e68151b716d5b2086d54cd812afd43253f1adb5b6e0185f51"
    validation: [sha256]
    source_ref: "video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:65-68, 104-146, 173-191"

  - name: libopenh264-2.4.1-linux-arm64.7.so
    path: "video/libopenh264-2.4.1-linux-arm64.7.so"
    system: flash
    required: false
    description: "OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder library, Linux aarch64"
    sha256: "e8ea7e42855ceb4a90e7bd0b3abeba0c58b5f97166e8b0a30eefd58e099557a4"
    validation: [sha256]
    source_ref: "video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:73-76, 104-146, 173-191"

  - name: libopenh264-2.4.1-linux-arm.7.so
    path: "video/libopenh264-2.4.1-linux-arm.7.so"
    system: flash
    required: false
    description: "OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder library, Linux arm"
    sha256: "fd1dfb27d30bb72e903c9d2b4c650104a4369d2e7ffe8a4a533e8db2e7e9b19e"
    validation: [sha256]
    source_ref: "video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:69-72, 104-146, 173-191"

  - name: libopenh264-2.4.1-linux32.7.so
    path: "video/libopenh264-2.4.1-linux32.7.so"
    system: flash
    required: false
    description: "OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder library, Linux x86"
    sha256: "b7cf0e407f99056d90cbf62787a34820a7595b2129b165319d50766e00a66704"
    validation: [sha256]
    source_ref: "video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:61-64, 104-146, 173-191"

  - name: libopenh264-2.4.1-mac-arm64.dylib
    path: "video/libopenh264-2.4.1-mac-arm64.dylib"
    system: flash
    required: false
    description: "OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder library, macOS aarch64"
    sha256: "213ff93831cfa3dd6d7ad0c3a3403a6ceedf4ac1341e1278b5b869d42fefb496"
    validation: [sha256]
    source_ref: "video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:81-84, 104-146, 173-191"

  - name: libopenh264-2.4.1-mac-x64.dylib
    path: "video/libopenh264-2.4.1-mac-x64.dylib"
    system: flash
    required: false
    description: "OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder library, macOS x86_64"
    sha256: "cc0ba518a63791c37571f3c851f0aa03a4fbda5410acc214ecd4f24f8d1c478e"
    validation: [sha256]
    source_ref: "video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:77-80, 104-146, 173-191"

  - name: openh264-2.4.1-win64.dll
    path: "video/openh264-2.4.1-win64.dll"
    system: flash
    required: false
    description: "OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder library, Windows x86_64"
    sha256: "081b0c081480d177cbfddfbc90b1613640e702f875897b30d8de195cde73dd34"
    validation: [sha256]
    source_ref: "video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:89-92, 104-146, 173-191"

  - name: openh264-2.4.1-win32.dll
    path: "video/openh264-2.4.1-win32.dll"
    system: flash
    required: false
    description: "OpenH264 2.4.1 decoder library, Windows x86"
    sha256: "83270149640469c994a62cc32a6d8c0413cd7b802b7f1f2f532159f5bdc1cedd"
    validation: [sha256]
    source_ref: "video/external/src/decoder/openh264.rs:85-88, 104-146, 173-191"