How to transfer ROMs to RetroPie

Before you start

RetroPie organizes ROMs by system in the /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ directory. Each emulator has its own subfolder (e.g., nes, snes, genesis).

What you'll need:

• RetroPie installed and running on your Raspberry Pi
• ROM files for games you own
• USB stick (FAT32 or exFAT formatted) or network access to your Pi

USB stick method (easiest)

The USB method automatically organizes your ROMs into the correct folders.

1. Prepare the USB stick

1. Insert a USB stick into your computer.
2. Format it as FAT32 or exFAT.
3. Create a folder named retropie (lowercase) at the root of the USB stick.

2. Initialize the USB stick on RetroPie

1. Plug the USB stick into your Raspberry Pi running RetroPie.
2. Wait 10–30 seconds. The USB stick's LED will blink as RetroPie creates the folder structure.
3. Once the blinking stops, unplug the USB stick.

3. Add ROMs to the USB stick

1. Plug the USB stick back into your computer.
2. Open the retropie folder. You'll now see a roms folder with subfolders for each system (e.g., nes, snes, psx).
3. Copy your ROM files into the appropriate system folder.

4. Transfer ROMs to RetroPie

1. Safely eject the USB stick from your computer.
2. Plug it back into your Raspberry Pi.
3. Wait 10–30 seconds for RetroPie to copy the ROMs. The USB LED will blink during the transfer.
4. Once the blinking stops, unplug the USB stick.
5. Restart Emulation Station: press Start → Quit → Restart Emulation Station.

Your games will now appear in the RetroPie menu under their respective systems!

Network transfer method (advanced)

If you prefer to transfer ROMs over your network, RetroPie includes a Samba share.

1. Find your Pi's IP address

From the RetroPie menu, press Start → Show IP. Note the IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.100).

2. Connect to the network share

On Windows:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. In the address bar, type \\192.168.1.100 (replace with your Pi's IP) and press Enter.
3. If prompted for credentials, enter:
   • Username: pi
   • Password: raspberry (or your custom password)

On macOS:

1. In Finder, press Cmd+K to open "Connect to Server."
2. Enter smb://192.168.1.100 and click Connect.
3. Select the roms share and log in with username pi and password raspberry.

3. Copy ROMs to the network share

You'll see folders for each emulator system. Drag and drop your ROM files into the appropriate folders.

4. Restart Emulation Station

Press Start → Quit → Restart Emulation Station to refresh the game list.

Organize your ROMs

File formats

Different systems use different ROM formats:

• NES: .nes, .zip
• SNES: .smc, .sfc, .zip
• Genesis/Mega Drive: .md, .bin, .zip
• PlayStation: .cue + .bin (must keep both files together)
• Game Boy / GBC / GBA: .gb, .gbc, .gba, .zip

Naming conventions

For best results, name your ROMs clearly:

• Good: Super Mario Bros (USA).nes
• Avoid: smb_v2_final_FIXED.nes

Proper naming helps RetroPie scrape artwork and metadata automatically.

Add game artwork (optional)

RetroPie can download box art, screenshots, and game descriptions automatically.

Built-in scraper

1. From the RetroPie menu, press Start → Scraper.
2. Choose a scraper source (ScreenScraper or TheGamesDB).
3. Select Scrape All Games or Scrape Only Missing Images.
4. Wait for the scraper to finish. This can take a while if you have many games.

Manual artwork (advanced)

You can also add custom artwork by placing images in:

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/<system>/images/

Name the image file the same as the ROM (e.g., Super Mario Bros (USA).png).