When is it Legal to Download ROMs? A 2026 Legal FAQ

The legal status of ROM files is the most persistently misunderstood topic in emulation. Common beliefs — “you can keep a ROM for 24 hours,” “if you own the cartridge you can download the ROM,” “abandonware is legal” — are myths, misreadings, or outright fabrications that have circulated online for twenty years without correction. This FAQ states what the law actually says.

For the foundational question of whether emulators themselves are legal, read our dedicated emulation legality guide, which covers the court cases that established emulation as legal software. This article focuses specifically on ROM files.

Is Emulation Software Legal?

Yes, in virtually every jurisdiction. The 1992 US ruling in Sega v. Accolade established that reverse engineering for interoperability (which is what emulators do) is protected under fair use. The 2000 ruling in Sony v. Connectix confirmed this for console emulators specifically. Emulator software contains no copyrighted game code — the emulators hub on this site covers dozens of fully legal emulators.

This is settled law. Emulators are legal. ROM files are where legality becomes complicated.

Is the “Own the Cartridge, Download the ROM” Rule Real?

No. This is the most widely believed myth in the emulation community. The theory goes: if you legally own a copy of a game, you are allowed to download a ROM of that game from the internet.

The relevant US law is 17 U.S.C. § 117, which allows the owner of a copy of software to make an archival copy of that software for backup purposes. What this section does not do is grant the right to download a copy made by someone else. The backup you are legally permitted to make must be your own, created by you, from your own legally owned media.

Downloading a ROM from a website is receiving a copy made and distributed by a third party without the copyright holder’s authorisation. Whether you own the original cartridge is legally irrelevant to that transaction.

Several courts have explicitly rejected the “own the cart, download the ROM” argument when it has been raised.

What About the “24-Hour Rule”?

There is no 24-hour rule anywhere in copyright law. This is completely fabricated. It has been repeated so many times that many people believe it is real law. It is not. There is no grace period for copyright infringement based on time held.

Is Abandonware Legal?

No. “Abandonware” is not a legal category. Copyright law in the US and most countries protects works for the life of the author plus 70 years (or 95 years from publication for corporate works). A company’s decision to stop selling a game, go bankrupt, or be acquired does not terminate the copyright on that game.

Game Boy Advance Pokémon games — frequently downloaded and popular on our best Pokémon emulators for PC and best GBA emulators for PC pages — are actively copyrighted by Nintendo and Game Freak and are aggressively enforced. The popularity of these games makes them among the most litigated ROM categories.

When Are ROM Downloads Actually Legal?

There are three genuine categories:

1. Public domain software. In the US, works published before 1928 are in the public domain. No commercial video game falls into this category. Some very early electronic games (pre-1977) are in complex legal territory but most commercial ROM downloads are not affected by this.

2. Homebrew and open-source licensed games. A large number of games have been created specifically for retro hardware and released under Creative Commons or similar licences permitting free download and distribution. These are fully legal to download and play. Many are listed on homebrew databases for specific systems.

3. Games explicitly released for free by rights holders. A small number of rights holders have made specific older games freely downloadable. This is rare but exists. Always look for an official link from the rights holder rather than a third-party claim.

What is the Practical Enforcement Risk?

The legal exposure for individual ROM downloaders is real but historically low in terms of prosecution. Rights holders have pursued ROM site operators aggressively (Nintendo’s $12 million settlement with LoveROMs and LoveRETRO in 2018 is the most prominent example) but have rarely pursued individual end users.

“Low risk of enforcement” and “legal” are not the same thing. This guide describes the law, not a risk-benefit calculation.

BIOS Files: A Separate Category

BIOS files are copyrighted firmware owned by hardware manufacturers (Sony, Sega, Nintendo). Downloading BIOS files from the internet is copyright infringement in the same way as ROM files. Extracting a BIOS from hardware you own raises separate fair use arguments that have not been definitively litigated. Our emulation legality guide discusses this in more detail.