How to Compile Aseprite From Source on Windows 11, Step-by-Step

build_aseprite_win11.md

Compiling Aseprite on Windows 11

It's actually much easier than you think. The official INSTALL.md is a bit misleading, on Windows 11 you barely need to install anything manually. It's just:

• Verifying your winget installation (or fixing it, but it should come pre-installed on Windows 11)
• Installing git (if you don't already have it) with a single winget command
• Installing Visual Studio Community with a single winget command
• Opening a special command prompt and copy-pasting a few final commands

Verifying Your winget Installation

Your Windows 11 should come the winget package manager installed by default.

Before continuing, verify this by running this command in PowerShell (as an administrator):

winget -v

You will know that you have a working winget install if you see a message similar to this:

v1.29.280

I Got An Error Instead: winget : The term 'winget' is not recognized...

Fix Your winget Installation

This shouldn't happen, but if it does, run the following in PowerShell (as an administrator) to fix winget:

$progressPreference = 'silentlyContinue'
Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -Force | Out-Null
Install-Module -Name Microsoft.WinGet.Client -Force -Repository PSGallery | Out-Null
Repair-WinGetPackageManager -AllUsers

Then verify it works by running:

winget -v

Install git

You can skip this step if you already have a working git installation.

Verifying Your git Installation

Run the following in PowerShell (as an administrator):

git -v

You have a working git installation if you see a meeasge similar to this:

git version 2.55.0.vfs.0.3

I Got An Error Instead: git : The term 'git' is not recognized...

Install the git Package

Run in PowerShell (as an administrator):

winget install --id Microsoft.Git -e --silent --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements -s winget

Install Visual Studio Community

To install Visual Studio Community with the required packages selected, run in PowerShell (as an administrator):

winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.Community -e --silent --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements -s winget --override "--add Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop --includeRecommended --passive --wait"

This command does the same thing as downloading the installer manually and then selecting the Desktop development with C++ option, but it does it all for you autoomatically.

In general, you do not need a specific version of Visual Studio Community, as long as the version you install is newer than the one called for in the official instructions. So the latest version that is automatically installed should be fine.

Wait until it finishes downloading and installing (this will take ages), then you can close PowerShell.

Open the VS Command Prompt

In the Windows 11 search menu, look for x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS and run it.

You will type all the following commands into the window that pops up.

Clone Aseprite

Run the following to download Aseprite and it's dependencies into the aseprite directory in your Documents folder:

cd %USERPROFILE%\Documents
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite.git

This may take a while to download all the submodules.

Compile!

Run the following to start the automated build script:

cd %USERPROFILE%\Documents\aseprite
build.cmd --auto

Now the automated build script will get to work building Aseprite from source!

This will take a very long time. Maybe go get some water or watch a movie...

When it's done, it will list the output executable path and automaically open Aseprite!

Finding and Using the Compiled Aseprite Executable

The Aseprite executable will be located at {your user folder}\Documents\aseprite\build\bin\aseprite.exe.

When trying to open a .aseprite file, scroll all the way down the list of suggested apps and pick Choose an app on your PC. Browse to aseprite.exe, and then on the final popup select the "Always" button.

Done!

Congratulations! You have now built Aseprite, associated it with .aseprite files, and have installed it as one of the apps you can choose to open various files with! You're done! Happy pixels!