A: No. chdman.exe is a self‑contained binary. However, the easiest way to obtain the latest version is by downloading the official MAME ZIP, which includes chdman alongside other useful utilities.
CHDMAN is open-source (BSD license). However, you should only compress game images you have legally dumped from your own physical discs. Distributing CHD files of copyrighted games is illegal. This guide is for preserving your personal collection. download chdman.exe
The CHD format is a lossless compression format originally developed for the MAME project to store hard disk, laser disc, and CD-ROM data. It is designed to compress massive game data files (such as arcade hard drive images or Sega CD/TurboGrafx-CD games) while maintaining a checksum-verified byte-for-byte accuracy with the original media. Download report — chdman
Convert a .cue file to CHD:
chdman createcd -i game.cue -o game.chd