# FEX-Emu/FEX

A fast usermode x86 and x86-64 emulator for Arm64 Linux

Repository: https://github.com/FEX-Emu/FEX
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/fex
Homepage: https://fex-emu.com
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: emulator, x86, x86-64, arm64, linux, emulation, cpp
Last push: 2026-08-26T23:37:36+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 96, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2371, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 29, "gap_med": 30, "n_releases_24m": 24}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7883, forks 331 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:08.560764+00:00)

## What it is
FEX is a fast usermode x86 and x86-64 emulator for ARM64 Linux, using an advanced binary recompiler with a custom IR to run 32-bit and 64-bit x86 binaries on ARM hardware. It integrates with Wine/Proton for Windows gaming and forwards API calls to host libraries like OpenGL and Vulkan to reduce overhead.

## Use cases
- run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux
- play Windows games on ARM Linux with Wine/Proton
- emulate x86-64 binaries on aarch64
- reduce emulation overhead by forwarding OpenGL/Vulkan calls
- tweak per-application emulation performance settings
- use as a WoW64/ARM64EC backend in Wine

## When to choose
- you need to run x86/x86-64 Linux programs on ARM64 hardware
- you want to game on ARM64 Linux via Wine/Proton
- you need AVX/AVX2 support in emulation
- you want an alternative to qemu-user or box64 with better performance

## When to avoid
- you need full-system emulation rather than usermode
- you are on x86 or non-ARM hardware
- you need ARMv8.0- hardware support
- you require perfect compatibility with every x86 binary

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: interpreter, graphics, gui, cli
- domain: operating-systems, gaming-tools, developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: cpp, cli
- tags: x86-emulation, binary-translation, arm64, wine, proton, jit-recompiler, qemu-user-alternative, box64-alternative, linux

## Member repositories
- FEX-Emu/FEX (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:08.560764+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:33:42.811052+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/FEX-Emu/FEX (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:08.560764+00:00, sha ebfce4a3c33d)
  - homepage: https://fex-emu.com (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:08.427185+00:00, sha 23cab859e266)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.