A classic Macintosh, running in this tab
A Macintosh, emulated in WebAssembly, running in this page. No download, no install, no plugin, no account. It boots System 7 on a Quadra 650 in a couple of seconds, and you can drop your own software into it.
Everything happens in your browser. Your file is never uploaded anywhere.
Which Macintosh you are getting
| Era | Machine | Emulator | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| System 6 | Macintosh Plus, 512×342 black and white | Mini vMac | Anything from 1984–1990. Fast enough for a phone. |
| System 7 | Quadra 650, 640×480 in colour | Basilisk II | The bulk of the classic era: 1991–1997. |
| Mac OS 8–9 | Power Macintosh G3 | SheepShaver | PowerPC-only software. Heavier. |
The differences are real, not cosmetic. A Mac Plus is an eight-megahertz machine with a one-bit screen; a Quadra 650 is a 68040 with colour; a G3 is a different processor architecture entirely. Software from one will often not run on another, and picking the wrong machine is the single most common reason an old program refuses to start.
How the emulation works
Three separate emulators, all long-standing open-source projects, compiled to WebAssembly and running in a Web Worker in your browser:
- Mini vMac emulates the early compact Macs precisely and is small and quick.
- Basilisk II emulates a 68k Macintosh capable of running System 7 through Mac OS 8.1.
- SheepShaver emulates a PowerPC Macintosh for Mac OS 8.1 through 9.0.4.
They are interpreters, not recompilers, so they are slower than the same emulators running natively on your machine — perfectly fine for a drawing program or a 2D game, noticeably strained by a 1994 first-person shooter. They also need Apple's ROM and system software to boot, exactly as real hardware did.
The disk images are split into small chunks and fetched only as the emulated Mac reads them, which is why a machine with a two-hundred-megabyte hard disk starts in seconds rather than after a long download.
What you can do with it
Drop in a .sit, .hqx, .bin or disk image and it appears on the emulated Mac. Applications run. Documents open in whatever is on the disk. Files you save stay in your browser between visits.
What you cannot do: run Mac OS X or macOS software, print, or reach the internet from inside the emulated machine. The first is an architectural gap, the second and third are simply not wired up.
If you want the whole machine rather than one program — every system release from 1984 to Mac OS X, a large built-in software library, NeXTSTEP as well — Infinite Mac is the project to use, and the emulator builds on this site come from it.
Questions people ask
Is this a real Mac emulator or a simulation?
Real emulation. Mini vMac, Basilisk II and SheepShaver are mature open-source emulators compiled to WebAssembly; they execute the actual 68k or PowerPC instructions and boot Apple's real system software.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It is a web page. There is no plugin, no extension and no account.
Is it free?
Yes, and there is nothing to buy.
Can I run Mac OS X software?
No. Mac OS X is a different architecture and a different operating system. This site emulates the classic Mac OS, up to Mac OS 9.
Will it work on a Chromebook or an iPad?
Yes. It is a web page, and the lighter machines run well on modest hardware. A 1994 shooter on a phone will be a struggle; a drawing program will be fine.
Where do my files go?
Into your own browser's storage. Nothing is uploaded to any server at any point.
Why does it need a ROM?
Because a real Macintosh did. A large part of the Mac's operating system lived in ROM chips on the motherboard, and the emulator needs that code to boot just as the hardware did.