A generic and open source machine emulator and virtualization software developed by Fabrice Bellard, the author of a compact

C compiler. QEMU can run operating systems and programs developed for one machine on a different machine.

When used as virtualization software, the host and guest machine must use x86-compatible processors. In emulation mode, it

supports x86 PFCs, MIPS R4000, Sun SPARC and PowerPC processors.

When used as a machine emulator, QEMU can run OSes and programs made for one machine (e.g. an ARM board) on a different

machine (e.g. your own PC). By using dynamic translation, it achieves very good performances.

When used as a virtualizer, QEMU achieves near native performances by executing the guest code directly on the host CPU. A

host driver called the QEMU accelerator (also known as KQEMU) is needed in this case. The virtualizer mode requires that both

the host and guest machine use x86 compatible processors.


The supported host and target CPUs are listed in the status page.