Reducing Your LaunchBox Build Size

LaunchBox is designed to be portable, allowing you to move your LaunchBox folder to another location or machine, and everything should work seamlessly. You can learn more about LaunchBox's portability and how to move it between PCs below:

🔗 Moving Your LaunchBox Instance to a New PC

However, as you add more games and media to your library, the size of your LaunchBox build can grow quickly. In this guide, we’ll explore how to keep your build neat and tidy, saving space while maintaining functionality.

🎮 Games

Games will most likely be the largest thing in your collection—especially CD-based games, which can take up a lot of space. How you store games is very much down to personal preference, but if you're really short on space, here are some things you could try:

1. Compress ROMs and Extract Before Running

Certain emulators, like RetroArch, allow you to store ROMs in compressed formats like .zip and extract them only when needed.

Pros: Saves space for medium to large sized games.
Cons: Extraction times can be noticeable for larger systems.

To enable this:

• Go to Tools > Manage > Emulators, select RetroArch, and check the box for Extract ROMs Before Running.

  

⚠️ Some systems such as Arcade come in a compressed format, but require that you do not extract them.

2. Use Compressed Formats for CD-Based Games

CD-based games are notorious for being particularly large in file size. Common formats include ISO, which is an exact copy of an entire optical disk but often contains a lot of data that isn't required to play the game.

If you don’t intend to play these games on original hardware, you may want to look into compressing them to allow for smaller file sizes while retaining all aspects of the game.

Compressing CD-based systems is a whole other topic, and again, it comes down to personal taste and the emulators/systems you are using. As a starting place, a lot of users prefer .CHD files as a way to save significant space.

💡 There’s even a LaunchBox plugin from one of our community members that will convert games to .CHDfor you, directly within LaunchBox!
🔗 Bulk Convert .cue/.bin

3. Store Games in a Separate Location

While it’s preferred to keep games within your LaunchBox directory for maximum portability, we understand not everyone wants to do this. During the import process, you can choose to leave games in their current location instead of moving them.

Alternatively, if you decide to relocate games within your LaunchBox directory to an external one:

• Highlight the desired games

• Go to Tools > File Management > Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games

• Follow the prompts to update file paths

  

🖼️ Media

Media files, like images and videos, play a key role in LaunchBox’s design. However, with larger builds, the amount of images and videos can quickly build up. While this won’t impact performance, media types such as videos can quickly fill up space on disk.

1. Limit Image Downloads

Whenever you use LaunchBox's Download Metadata and Media Wizard, take note of the Image download limit (per group).

It is generally recommended to keep this at 1. If an image group has more than one image available, LaunchBox will choose one based on the game's region or your region priorities.

📌 For example, Screenshot - Gameplay and Screenshot - Title Screen are part of the Screenshots group. If your limit is set to 1, only one image will be downloaded from that group.

You can adjust group priorities under Tools > Options > Media (Premium required).

2. Only Download Media Types Used by Your Theme

If your LaunchBox or Big Box themes only use a few image types (e.g., box fronts, clear logos), avoid downloading extras like banners or 3D boxes.

For example, the Default theme in Big Box uses:

• Box Front

• Clear Logo

• Background

• Screenshot

• (Optional: Box Back & Spine for 3D Models)

📝 If you use multiple themes for different parts of Big Box, just make sure you’re only keeping media used by those themes.

3. Run Cleanup Media

Deleted games don’t automatically delete their associated media. To clean up unused media:

• Go to Tools > Clean Up Media

• Select a specific platform or all platforms

• Choose media types to clean up (images, videos, music, etc.)

🧠 Use the Scan Images for Rough Matches option to intelligently find duplicate images even if they’re technically different files. This can take time but is useful periodically.

4. Use the Audit Window

Use Tools > Audit to get a breakdown of all games and their media. You can:

• View how many images each game has for each group

• Sort columns to identify duplicates

• Edit games directly from this window

💡 You can also delete unused media folders directly from LaunchBox > Images. Be careful and make sure you understand what you’re deleting.

5. Take Note of Video Quality

Videos take up the most space of any media type. If you don’t need them, deselect videos during import.

If you do want them, opt for low-quality versions unless you're using full-screen video themes on a high-resolution display.

🕹️ Emulators

Emulators can generate or require extra files that build up over time. Here’s how to manage them:

Texture Packs

Emulators like Dolphin, PCSX2, and Cemu support high-res texture packs. These are large files, so consider:

• Cleaning them out for games you no longer play

• Using custom fields to tag games with texture packs and making a playlist to track them

Cache Files

Emulators cache shaders or other data to improve performance. These caches can build up but are safe to delete if you’re not playing a game regularly.

Example: In RPCS3, right-click a game and go to Remove > Remove ALL Caches. Other emulators offer similar features.

Saves & States

Most saves/states are small, but for larger systems like RPCS3, save states can be quite large. LaunchBox’s Save Management tool helps identify and delete unused saves.

📚 Check out our Managing Save Games and States article for a full guide.

🎨 Themes

Uninstall Unused Themes

In Big Box:

• Go to System Settings > Manage Themes

• Uninstall any themes not in use

  

For LaunchBox themes:

• Go to Tools > Manage > LaunchBox Themes

• Remove unused themes there as well

🧠 Don’t forget to do the same for Startup and Pause themes!

🗂️ System Files

Remove Previous Update/Beta Installers

Every LaunchBox update stores its installer in LaunchBox > Updates. These aren’t auto-deleted.

If you don’t need them:

• Navigate to that folder

• Delete older installers (they can be 300MB+ each)

Remove Unwanted Backups

LaunchBox keeps up to 25 backups of your Data directory in LaunchBox > Backups. These are small, but can add up over time.

You can disable backups at Options > Data > Backups, but this is not recommended unless you're creating your own backups.

✅ Summary

By implementing these strategies, you can keep your LaunchBox build lean and efficient:

• Optimize game storage with compression or external locations

• Limit media downloads and clean up unused files

• Maintain emulator folders and themes regularly

• Delete redundant install files and backups

Taking a little time to manage your build can go a long way in saving space and ensuring smooth performance.