Compile Aseprite from source code for Windows 11/10 x64

compile-aseprite-win.md

Prerequisites

• Windows 11 x64.
• Visual Studio Community 2022 + Desktop Development with C++ + Windows 10.0 SDK (latest).
• CMake.
• Ninja Build System.
• Skia.
• Winrar or 7zip.

Download and Set Up Visual Studio Community 2022

• Get Visual Studio Community 2022.

  

• Once the installer launches, select Desktop Development with C++ workload.

  

• In the "Individual Components" section, select Windows 10.0 SDK (latest).

  

• Click the "Install while downloading" button to begin installing Visual Studio 2022.

Get The Source Code

• Get the Aseprite source code Aseprite-v1.x-Source.zip

  

Download and Set Up CMake

• Get CMake cmake-4.xx.x-windows-x86_64.msi

  

• Choose the option Add CMake To The PATH For environment variable

  

Download and Set Up Ninja

• Download Ninja Build System.

  

• Extract ninja-win.zip and copy ninja.exe to C:\Program Files\CMake\bin.

Download Skia

• Download Skia Skia-Windows-Release-x64.zip.

  

• In the C:\ directory, create a folder named deps.

• Inside the deps directory, create another folder named skia.

• Extract the contents of Skia-Windows-Release-x64.zip into the skia folder.

Compiling

• In the C:\ directory, create a folder named aseprite.

• Extract the contents of Aseprite-v1.x-Source.zip into the aseprite folder.

• Search Command Prompt

  

• Execute the following commands:

call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat" -arch=x64
cd C:\aseprite
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DLAF_BACKEND=skia -DSKIA_DIR=C:\deps\skia -DSKIA_LIBRARY_DIR=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64 -DSKIA_LIBRARY=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64\skia.lib -G Ninja ..

• Now compile with Ninja:

ninja aseprite

• The executable will be located at C:\aseprite\build\bin\aseprite.exe.

Tested With Aseprite v1.3.14

Please remember to support the creators of Aseprite. Only use this method to try the program or if you don't have access to funds or a credit card :)

hey so i got this error anyone knows how to solve this?

I just had this same problem. each command should be made one at a time.
The first should be to call microsoft visual studio:

call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat" -arch=x64

Ensure that the folders are named as such/change the command to account for any differences. My "2022" folder was called "18" and "Community" folder was "Insiders". I don't know enough to tell you why. You should get the copyright sign from visual studio to pop up as a result. looks like this:

You're then going to execute cmake, which is critical in order for it to recognize the CMakeLists:

cd aseprite mkdir build cd build cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DLAF_BACKEND=skia -DSKIA_DIR=C:\deps\skia -DSKIA_LIBRARY_DIR=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64 -DSKIA_LIBRARY=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64\skia.lib -G Ninja .. ninja aseprite

Don't worry about errors unless it's a critical failure one. The next step builds the executable file:

cd aseprite mkdir build cd build cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DLAF_BACKEND=skia -DSKIA_DIR=C:\deps\skia -DSKIA_LIBRARY_DIR=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64 -DSKIA_LIBRARY=C:\deps\skia\out\Release-x64\skia.lib -G Ninja .. ninja aseprite

This should give you the results you want. This was my first time doing it and it required me to examine the folder names, and use a combination of guides. I had this error the most, and this was the way it worked for me. Good luck.

hey i did all the steps just fine all good but i have a big problem when at the ninja aseprite step it keeps sying error and cannot find the file specific what should i do?