Choose your method. Zstandard offers a great balance of high compression speed and small file size.
In the settings window, set the dropdown menu to RVZ .
For a gamer building a “full ROM set” (e.g., every GameCube game ever released), that’s over 1.5TB of data. By leveraging highly compressed work formats, that same collection can shrink to under 300GB.
: Right-click any ISO in your list and select "Compress File" to convert it to RVZ. dolphin games highly compressed work
Games like Zelda: Wind Waker or Super Smash Bros. Melee are often optimized for smaller file footprints by the community. How to Run Compressed Games on Dolphin To get these games working, you need a compatible setup:
Introduced in Dolphin 5.0, RVZ is the emulator’s native compressed format.
The Dolphin emulator natively supports highly compressed formats, meaning it can read shrunk files directly without requiring you to extract them back to their original size. Top Compressed Formats Supported by Dolphin Choose your method
Set the graphics backend to Vulkan or Direct3D 11/12 for better speed.
Beyond the basic conversion, here are some expert strategies to fine-tune your library.
Instead of standard .iso files, compressed Dolphin games usually use specialized formats designed for emulation: For a gamer building a “full ROM set” (e
: While "highly compressed" repacks found on third-party sites can save bandwidth, they often risk file corruption. It is safer to compress your own files directly within Dolphin. If you'd like, I can help you with: Step-by-step conversion of ISO to RVZ Troubleshooting lag on compressed files Finding the best settings for your specific PC or Android device Let me know which you are using! GameCube & Wii Emulator Dolphin Setup Guide 20 Jan 2025 —
Before RVZ, there was GCZ. It is still widely used in repacks.