Where Does EmulationStation Desktop Store Data?
EmulationStation Desktop home folders with gamelists, media and settings on Linux.
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EmulationStation Desktop keeps gamelists, downloaded media, themes and settings in home folders separate from ROM directories. Scraped art and video previews live next to the lists that reference them.
ROMs stay in your own library paths while metadata overlays them. Copy the data folders plus ROMs together or the carousel shows empty slots.
Where EmulationStation Desktop stores this, by platform
~/.emulationstation
Holds gamelists per system, downloaded_media art, themes and es_settings. ROMs live in your own directories elsewhere, commonly ~/ROMs. Copy the data folder with the app closed to migrate lists, art and settings.
Frequently asked questions
Where are EmulationStation gamelists?
As gamelist.xml files per system inside the folder above. They reference ROM paths, so keep library locations identical across machines.
Where does EmulationStation put scraped art?
In downloaded_media next to the gamelists above. Re-scrape after moving ROMs if images detach.
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