Can a Program Compiled for One CPU Architecture Run on Another CPU Architecture?

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In general, a program compiled for one CPU architecture can't run on other architectures because the format of the machine code would be different. This means that you can't, for example, run a program compiled for ARM on your x64 CPU, or run a program compiled for x64 on your ARM CPU.

There is one exception to this: the x64 architecture, also called x64-86, is a 64-bit architecture created to replace the old 32-bit x86 architecture. Because most PC's would have to transition from x86 to x64, that would mean that all programs ever made would have to be recompiled in order to work, and in some cases that may not even be possible (e.g. abandonware). Consequently, x64 was made backwards compatible with x86, meaning that an old x86 program will work on a x64 CPU, but a new x64 program won't work with an old x86 CPU.

Quotes

The x64 architecture is a backwards-compatible extension of x86. It provides a new 64-bit mode and a legacy 32-bit mode, which is identical to x86.

The term "x64" includes both AMD 64 and Intel64. The instruction sets are almost identical.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/x64-architecture (accessed 2025-04-05)
Written by Noel Santos.

About the Author

I'm a self-taught Brazilian programmer graduated in IT from a FATEC. In a world of increasingly complex and essential computers, I decided to use my technical expertise in hardware, desktop applications, and web technologies to create an informative resource to make PC's easier to understand.

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