How to install Aseprite on Windows 11 (2024 - Guide)

Eray Chumak — Mon, 27 May 2024 19:38:38 +0000

This guide is intended for users of Windows 11/10 and assumes prior experience with the terminal and Git.

Motivation

I had a rocky experience following the INSTALL.md guide to install Aseprite on Windows. At the time of writing, it was updated 8 months ago. I tried contributing an update to help organise it with tables and dropdowns but it was rejected for valid reasons (see original PR). Not wanting to go through the long process of starting an issue and discussion on their repo, I thought it best to simplify even more and just publish a brief article guide on how to install Aseprite on Windows 11 in 2024 from my own experience.

Hopefully, you find this useful 😁

1. Get the source code

Clone the repository and all its submodules using the following command:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite.git

To update an existing clone:

git pull
git submodule update --init --recursive

2. Dependencies

To compile Aseprite you will need:

Dependency	Version	Note
CMake	Latest (minimum v3.16)	Make available in PATH
Ninja	Latest	Make available in PATH
aseprite/Skia	Skia-m102	Follow their release notes

Visit the links for more information on how to download pre-built packages or compile them yourself.

You will also need:

Visual Studio Community 2022
Using Visual Studio Installer, install the Desktop development with C++ item with:
- Windows 10 SDK (10.0.18362.0)
- MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools (or later version)

3. Compiling

For some of the commands below, make sure they point to the correct paths as they can be different on your system.

3.1 Create a build folder inside ./aseprite

cd ./aseprite
mkdir build

Remove build folder and start again if you want fresh copy of Aseprite.

3.2 Enter the VS 2022 Dev CMD Env.

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

3.3 Run cmake inside ./aseprite/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 ..

No MinGW support. See info within Issue #2449.

3.4 Run ninja in aseprite/build folder

ninja aseprite

You can find the executable inside ./aseprite/build/bin/aseprite.exe.

Attributions

The official INSTALL.md guide can be found on their official repository.
The cover image is a screenshot from their official website.