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Emulation

Back Up and Move Retro Saves Between Emulators

Memory cards, save states and battery saves live in different folders for every emulator. Find them, copy them safely and move a save from one frontend to another.

by@guidox updated:10/30/26 time:15 min level:Beginner tested on:Windows 11 24H2, RetroArch 1.19, DuckStation 0.1 works on:Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
TL;DR

Copy the **battery save** (.srm, .sav, .mcr) and the **save states**, not the whole install. Emulators only read the battery save reliably; save states break when the core or the region changes.

Before you start

Requirements

  • Access to the emulator folders
  • A backup drive
  • The same game ROM on both sides
Step by step

Instructions

01

Know the three kinds of save

A battery save mimics the cartridge's SRAM and is portable. A save state is a snapshot of emulator memory and is tied to the core version. A suspend or auto-save file is a state with a timer.

.srm / .sav / .mcr  battery save
.state / .st0..9    save state
02

Find the folders

RetroArch keeps saves in the **saves** folder next to the RetroArch executable, DuckStation in its own memcards folder, PPSSPP in the memstick directory under Documents.

RetroArch\aves
DuckStation\emcards
Documents\PSSPP\SP\AVEDATA
03

Match the file name to the ROM

Battery saves are named after the ROM file. Renaming the ROM breaks the link, and different dumps of the same game - Europe against USA - do not share saves.

⚠ warningKeep the region and revision in the file name. Chrono Trigger (USA) and Chrono Trigger (Europe) are different memory layouts.
04

Copy, then verify in game

Copy the save into the target emulator's folder with the same base name as the ROM, start the game and load from the in-game menu - not from a save state.

tipBoot the game, reach the title screen, then load. Loading a save without booting the game first is what produces corrupt data screens.
05

Move a save between emulators

Both emulators must read the same format: DuckStation and RetroArch both want .mcr for PlayStation, so the copy is a rename. For SNES, bsnes and Snes9x share .srm directly.

06

Back up on a schedule

Copy the saves folder to a second drive after each session, or add it to the robocopy job. Saves are small - a few megabytes covers a library of hundreds of games.

robocopy "C:\etroArch\aves" "D:\ackup\aves" /MIR /R:1 /W:2
Troubleshooting

Common issues

The emulator says the save is corrupt

The save is a state renamed to a battery save, or it belongs to another region. Copy the original .srm, not the state.

Saves vanish after a core update

Save states are version-bound, battery saves are not. Restore the previous core or keep using battery saves.

Two emulators overwrite each other

Sharing one saves folder between emulators synchronises both. Give each its own folder and copy deliberately.

The game does not see the save

The base name does not match the ROM exactly, including region tags. Rename the save, not the ROM.

FAQ

Frequently asked

Are save states ever portable?

Between identical core versions, usually yes. Treat them as a snapshot, not a backup.

How big is a save library?

A few kilobytes per game. Even a full set of memory cards fits on a floppy.

How to undo this

Delete the copies you placed in the other emulator's folder. The original saves in the source folder are untouched.

Changelog · 1 entry
  1. 2026-10-30
    First version
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