Xenia is an open source Xbox 360 Emulator primarily written in C++, with some Assembly for low-level performance and a bit of Python for scripting tools.
Xenia is specifically crafted and designed for Microsoft Windows operating system with an experimental version for Linux OS.
Xenia is an open-source Xbox 360 emulator that began development in 2013, founded by software engineer Ben Vanik. What started as an experimental project to explore the feasibility of emulating Microsoft’s complex seventh-generation console soon became one of the most promising efforts in console emulation. The Xbox 360’s architecture, built on a PowerPC CPU and custom ATI GPU, posed significant challenges, but Xenia’s early breakthroughs in CPU translation and system-level simulation laid the foundation for its future progress.
In 2015, Xenia reached a major milestone by booting its first retail game, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), marking the beginning of real-world compatibility. Over the following years, the project saw rapid development, introducing a JIT recompiler for PowerPC-to-x86 translation, advanced graphics backends using Direct3D 12 and Vulkan, and deeper kernel emulation for handling Xbox system calls. This enabled more complex retail games to load and run with increasing stability and speed, making titles like Halo 3 and Catherine partially or fully playable on PC.
Today, Xenia continues to evolve through community-driven contributions and a focus on performance, accuracy, and compatibility. While still under active development, it already supports hundreds of Xbox 360 titles, and its modular design allows ongoing improvements across GPU rendering, memory management, and audio emulation. As one of the most advanced Xbox 360 emulators, Xenia stands as a remarkable achievement in reverse engineering and software preservation.
Xenia emulates the Xbox 360’s PowerPC-based CPU (Xenon) by translating its machine code to x86-64 instructions using a Just-In-Time (JIT) recompiler. This allows Xbox 360 games to run on modern PC hardware with optimized performance. By mimicking the CPU’s instruction set and multithreading behavior, Xenia ensures that games execute as close to original hardware as possible, providing a faithful emulation experience.
Leveraging Direct3D 12 and Vulkan, Xenia emulates the Xbox 360’s custom ATI GPU with modern rendering techniques. The emulator translates Xbox 360 shaders into formats compatible with today’s GPUs, allowing enhanced visuals, smoother frame rates, and resolution scaling beyond the console’s native output. Vulkan support also ensures cross-platform compatibility and better performance on non-Windows systems.
Xenia accurately replicates the Xbox 360’s 512MB unified memory architecture, where CPU and GPU share the same address space. This involves emulating low-level behaviors like memory-mapped I/O (MMIO), page tables, and access protections. By mirroring how the original console handled memory, Xenia allows games to behave correctly, especially those relying on precise hardware timing and memory access patterns.
To run retail Xbox 360 games, Xenia reimplements essential kernel system calls and APIs. These include functions for threading, synchronization, file handling, and other OS-level services required by games. While not every system call is fully emulated, Xenia’s growing library of implemented functions enables more titles to run, expanding its compatibility with a wide range of games.
Xenia provides basic audio emulation through XAudio2, replicating the Xbox 360’s Audio Processing Unit (APU). This allows in-game sound effects, music, and voiceovers to function, though the audio subsystem is still under active development. Ongoing improvements aim to reduce glitches and increase accuracy in reproducing the console’s original sound output.
As an open-source project, Xenia benefits from continuous community contributions. Developers worldwide collaborate to fix bugs, improve performance, and expand compatibility. The transparent nature of its development allows enthusiasts to track progress, contribute code, and stay informed about upcoming features, ensuring the emulator's steady evolution.
Xenia can load and run Xbox 360 retail games from ISO disc images or extracted XEX executable files. This flexibility enables users to play a broad selection of titles directly from their legally-owned game backups. The emulator maintains a compatibility list that grows with each update, with many games now fully playable.
Out of the box, Xenia supports Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers via XInput, providing seamless integration for the most common PC gamepads. While customization options are limited, this ensures plug-and-play functionality, delivering an authentic Xbox gameplay experience on PC.
While primarily developed for Windows, Xenia has experimental builds targeting Linux systems through its Vulkan backend. Although still in early stages, Linux support demonstrates the project's goal of expanding accessibility and performance across multiple operating systems in the future.
Xenia is an open-source research project aimed at emulating Xbox 360 games on modern PCs. It's developed for educational and research purposes, allowing users to experience Xbox 360 games on non-console hardware.
To run Xenia effectively, you'll need:
A 64-bit version of Windows 10 or later.
A CPU that supports AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions).
A GPU compatible with Direct3D 12 or Vulkan.
At least 4GB of RAM.
Note: Integrated GPUs and older hardware may result in suboptimal performance.
No, Xenia is designed specifically for Xbox 360 games. It does not support original Xbox titles. For emulating original Xbox games, consider using emulators like Cxbx-Reloaded or XQEMU.
Currently, Xenia does not support Xbox Live or any form of online multiplayer. There are no plans to implement this feature in the near future.
However, the canary version offer a netplay function that can be configured to play with your friends online.
You can dump your Xbox 360 games using a compatible Xbox 360 console and a USB storage device.
If a game runs in trial or demo mode, it may be due to missing license files or incorrect game dumps. Ensure that you've properly dumped the game and included all necessary files. Refer to the Quickstart guide for more information or visit the game compatibility page.
By default, Xenia stores game saves in the Documents\Xenia\content directory. If you place a portable.txt file in the same directory as xenia.exe, the saves will be stored in a content folder within that directory.
Xenia natively supports XInput-compatible controllers, including Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers. For non-XInput controllers, additional configuration may be required by installing third party tools such as DS4Windows.
Xenia is primarily developed for Windows. While there is experimental support for Linux using Wine and Vulkan, macOS is not supported due to the lack of necessary graphics API support.
Performance can vary depending on your hardware and the specific game. To improve performance:
Ensure your GPU drivers are up to date.
Use the Vulkan backend if available.
Close unnecessary background applications.
Xenia is an open source Xbox 360 emulator for Windows PC computers, built to run Xbox 360 games with enhanced performance and compatibility.
Discover how to install, configure and play your favorite Xbox titles on PC.