Skraper review
A free scraper for enriching emulation frontend libraries with metadata and media.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Skraper is a free, non-commercial desktop application for organizing retro-gaming collections. It retrieves game metadata from the ScreenScraper database and can download screenshots, logos, flyers, box art, videos, manuals and other game information. Its main audience is people preparing libraries for emulation frontends, particularly EmulationStation-based setups and LaunchBox collections.
For larger or repeatedly updated libraries, Skraper offers useful control over the scraping process. A local cache can reduce repeated work, while multithreaded scraping supports concurrent processing. Users can configure image-composition mixes, file-naming conventions and filters for side files in archives. Hash-based media storage helps avoid duplicate media files, making the tool more suitable for collections where artwork and other assets may recur across entries.
Platform and frontend compatibility are central to the product. Official downloads are available for Windows and Linux, with support for EmulationStation metadata used by Recalbox and RetroPie, plus the ability to populate LaunchBox game lists and images. macOS use relies on WINE or CrossOver and is described as non-native, not officially tested and community-supported. Skraper is a strong fit when the goal is to add presentation-ready metadata and media to a retro-gaming library. Users primarily seeking ROM verification, or requiring native macOS support, should look for a different tool.
Skraper pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Downloads broad media types, including artwork, videos and manuals
- Caching, multithreading and hash storage streamline repeat scraping
- Works with EmulationStation, Recalbox, RetroPie and LaunchBox
- Where it doesn't
- Primarily enriches metadata rather than verifying ROMs
- macOS support is non-native and community-supported
- Archive support is basic
Skraper fact sheet, pricing and score →
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