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Today, Windows on Arm devices, such as those powered by the Snapdragon X series processors, are getting a boost thanks to an update to Prism that increases performance and enables running more apps and games under emulation.

The Prism emulator is a core part of the Windows on Arm platform, ensuring that Windows apps are able to run seamlessly on Windows on Arm even if they were built for traditional x86 processors and have not been updated to run natively on Arm.  Prism works by transparently converting an app’s x86 instructions to Arm64 code as the app runs.   

With today’s update, Prism expands its capability by supporting translation of more x86 instruction set architecture extensions, including AVX and AVX2, as well as related extensions BMI, FMA, F16C, and others.  These extensions are not guaranteed to be supported by a processor when running Windows, but they are common enough for some apps to depend on their availability.  They are especially relied on by creative tools and games that benefit from the efficient parallel processing that these CPU instructions provide. 

 

Features marked above in green are some of the emulated CPU features newly supported in Prism, as viewed withcoreinfo64.

With support for these additional processor features, Prism can now run a number of apps and games that were previously unable to work on Windows on Arm.  One example is Ableton Live, which will be coming to Windows on Arm as a native app next year.  Attempting to install Ableton Live 12 as an emulated app prior to this update would fail with a system requirements error because it requires AVX support. After the Prism update, the app installs and runs without issue.

 

Comparison of installing Ableton Live 12 on Windows on Arm before (left) and after (right) the update to Prism.

This Prism update has now rolled out to all Windows on Arm devices running Windows 11, version 24H2 or later.  All 64-bit x86 apps will have the updated CPU feature support enabled by default.  Any 32-bit apps will have it off by default but can be opted in using compatibility settings.

For more information about Windows on Arm, you can view our docs at Windows on Arm documentation on Microsoft Learn.

We are committed to continuing to enhance Prism emulation in Windows and are excited about the additional apps and games that will be able to run seamlessly on Windows on Arm with today’s update.