{"id":364943,"date":"2026-08-18T09:56:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/droix.net\/blogs\/?p=364943"},"modified":"2026-08-18T09:57:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:57:32","slug":"romm-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/droix.net\/blogs\/romm-review\/","title":{"rendered":"ROMM Review – How I Built a Self-Hosted Retro Game Library Across Multiple Devices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is ROMM?<\/strong> ROMM<\/a> is a free, self-hosted ROM manager for organising, enriching and accessing a personal retro game collection. It scans game files, adds metadata and artwork, supports browser play for selected platforms and can synchronise compatible saves and states across devices. It normally runs on user-owned hardware through Docker rather than as a conventional desktop application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why I Set Up ROMM for My Retro Collection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ROMM is a free, self-hosted ROM manager that lets me organise, enrich and access my retro game collection from one web-based library. It can scan ROM files, retrieve artwork and metadata, provide browser-based play for supported systems and help synchronise saves across compatible devices. Rather than keeping separate, disconnected collections on every computer and handheld, I can use ROMM as the library behind my setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing a large retro collection across several devices can otherwise become frustrating. ROMs end up spread across folders, hard drives, SD cards and handhelds, while artwork and game information may be missing or inconsistent. Moving a game from a desktop PC to an Android handheld or mobile phone can also mean manually copying the ROM, configuring the emulator again and trying to transfer the correct save file.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"All<\/a>
All of your game collection synchronised and ready to browse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For this project, I installed ROMM on a Raspberry Pi 5 using Docker, with the main ROM collection stored on an external hard drive. I then used it with a desktop PC, Windows gaming handhelds, Android devices and a mobile phone. In this editorial, I will explain what I needed, how I organised and scanned the collection, and how ROMM performed in everyday use across those devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testing conditions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n