• OS: Windows 10 / 11, Linux and macOS (x64 or ARM64); release zips are published for win-x64, win-arm64, linux-x64, linux-arm64, osx-x64 and osx-arm64
• Runtime: .NET 10.0 Desktop Runtime on Windows; the .NET 10.0 runtime on Linux and macOS
• Bundled executables (shipped with the app, must stay next to CHDStudio.exe):
  • Windows: chdman.exe / chdman_arm64.exe (0.289) — MAME CHD tool (primary encoder and extraction fallback); 7za.exe / 7za_arm64.exe — 7-Zip fallback extractor
  • Linux/macOS: 7zz (official 7-Zip 26.03 console build, copied from tools/ at publish time) — 7-Zip fallback extractor
• Built-in encoder: CHDSharp (CHDSharpLib 1.4.3) runs in-process on every platform — the automatic fallback behind chdman on Windows and the only encoder on Linux/macOS. Its output is byte-identical to chdman 0.289, and being a managed assembly there is no encoder executable to ship.
• Nothing else to install — CSO, ISZ, ECM, Alcohol .mds/.mdf and split volume sets are all handled inside the application, so x64 and ARM64 get the same feature set.

• .NET SDK 10.0.x (global.json pins 10.0.0 with rollForward: latestMajor)
• No Windows SDK required — Avalonia 12.1 and the Windows-only NAudio package are restored via NuGet, and the project sets EnableWindowsTargeting for the Windows TFM
• No other global tools required

1. Download the latest binary from the Releases page, picking the zip for your platform and architecture (win-x64/win-arm64, linux-x64/linux-arm64, osx-x64/osx-arm64).
2. Extract the contents to a permanent folder (do not run from a temp/Downloads folder if you want update/self-containment to behave).
3. Important (Windows): keep all .exe files (including ARM64 variants) in the same directory as CHDStudio.exe — tool discovery probes the app's base directory first, then PATH (MainWindow.axaml.cs). On Linux and macOS, 7zz ships next to the app and other tools are discovered on PATH; the built-in CHDSharp encoder needs nothing on disk.
4. Launch CHDStudio.exe on Windows or CHDStudio on Linux/macOS.

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/purelogiccode/CHDStudio.git
cd CHDStudio

# Build the whole solution
dotnet build CSharp_CHDStudio.sln -c Release

# Run the tests
dotnet test CSharp_CHDStudio.sln -c Release

# Or just the application
dotnet build CHDStudio/CHDStudio.csproj -c Release

The solution contains seven projects:

Note: on Windows, chdman.exe and 7za.exe are copied to the output directory by the build (CHDStudio.csproj); on Linux and macOS the matching tools/7zz* binary (official 7-Zip 26.03) is copied as 7zz, while a chdman on PATH is only used for extraction fallback and never for encoding. The libraries are referenced as project references, not NuGet packages, except CHDSharp (NuGet 1.4.3) and other packages listed below.

The application accepts an optional folder path argument to pre-populate the Convert to CHD source folder:

CHDStudio.exe "C:\ROMs\MyGames"

The path is applied in MainWindow_LoadedAsync via SetInputFolder (MainWindow.axaml.cs:148–153).

1. The built-in CHDSharp encoder is always available, so a batch can never be refused for a missing encoder. On Windows only, when the bundled chdman.exe is missing or fails the startup probe, a notice explains that every conversion will run on the built-in encoder (status bar indicators + a message box).
2. Usage statistics are recorded once (anonymous { applicationId, version } POST — see Services Reference).
3. An update check against GitHub releases runs in the background.
4. Leftover temp directories from crashed sessions and legacy files are cleaned up after a short delay.

Only one instance can run: a global mutex Global\CHDStudio_SingleInstance is acquired at startup; a second launch shows "Another instance of CHDStudio is already running." and exits (App.axaml.cs:80–105).

1. Open the Convert to CHD tab.
2. Source Files → browse to your folder of images/archives.
3. Output CHD → browse to your target folder.
4. Click Start Conversion.

Files appear in the list pre-selected; uncheck any you want to skip. The log pane shows live chdman output; the status bar and stat cards show progress, speed, and elapsed time.

See the User Guide for all options and the other two workflows (extraction and verification).