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ClrMamePro vs ROM Librarian

ClrMamePro

mamedev.emulab.it

ROM Librarian

github.com

Side by side

FigureClrMameProROM Librarian
Price fromFreeFree
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source——
WindowsYesYes
LinuxYesYes
Plans published11
Spec score · ROM Management Software8.1 (#4)7.6 (#16)
PurposeClrMame is a tool to scan and rebuild MAME machine sets.ROM Librarian is a desktop application for managing, organizing, and maintaining retro gaming ROM collections.

Plans

ClrMamePro

  • ClrMamePro FreewareFree

ClrMamePro pricing →

ROM Librarian

  • ROM LibrarianFree

ROM Librarian pricing →

In their own words

ClrMamePro

ClrMamePro scans and rebuilds MAME machine sets, checking ROM, sample, and CHD files for missing, unnecessary, or incorrectly named files. Its Rebuilder matches input files against a database using hashes and size, then writes correctly named machine files to an output folder. The package includes a graphical interface and a command-line executable with Scanner, Rebuilder, and Dir2Dat functions. The tools can use a MAME executable's listxml or listsoftware export as a data source. They use 7z.dll for 7z archive support and can produce zip, 7z, or decompressed output. A suitable DatFile allows use with systems beyond MAME. There is no install wizard; users unpack the archive into a folder. Current builds run on Windows 7 and higher, while older documentation describes Linux use under WINE or similar. The software is freeware, and the copyright notice identifies Roman Scherzer as its author; he says he started clrmame(pro) in 1997. Incorrect settings or removal operations can cause data loss, so the author recommends backups.

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ROM Librarian

ROM Librarian is a free, open-source desktop application for managing retro gaming ROM collections on Windows and Linux. It renames batches with regular expressions, showing previews, handling filename collisions, and supporting undo. Its DAT rename tool matches ROMs with No-Intro or MAME DAT files using CRC32, MD5, and SHA1 hashes. The application compresses ROMs to ZIP or 7z and extracts both archive types. It converts CUE/BIN and ISO disc images to CHD; Windows includes chdman, while Linux users must have chdman in PATH. Renaming can update EmulationStation or RetroPie gamelist.xml metadata, with restoration through undo. Multi-disc detection creates M3U playlists. Duplicate detection uses SHA1 or MD5 and preferences for region, size, and date. A Linux command-line interface supports scripted operations. The MIT-licensed project credits RobotWizard.

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