Development Windows
GNU Emacs for Windows
Edit text and source code with GNU Emacs for Windows, a free, extensible editor with syntax-aware modes, built-in documentation and Emacs Lisp customization.
Version 31.1_1 · Direct publisher file
Link checked · Download guidance
What is GNU Emacs?
GNU Emacs is a text editor for writing code, working with plain text and building a personalized editing environment. Content-aware modes provide syntax coloring for many file types, while Unicode support accommodates text in many scripts. A built-in tutorial and documentation help you learn the editor's commands.
Customization is central to Emacs: change settings through its graphical interface or use Emacs Lisp to extend how the editor works. Its package system adds extensions, and built-in tools include the Dired file manager and interfaces for tasks beyond editing.
The linked Windows EXE is the publisher's 31.1_1 package with dependencies. The Windows build README explicitly says this rebuild has no gccjit/native compilation; do not assume that a feature listed for another Emacs build is present here. The gallery image is a historical GNU Emacs Dired example captured on a Unix-like system in 2009, not a screenshot of this Windows release.
What it offers
- Use content-aware editing modes with syntax coloring for many file types.
- Edit Unicode text in nearly all human scripts.
- Customize the editor through Emacs Lisp or a graphical settings interface.
- Consult built-in documentation and an interactive tutorial.
- Add extensions through the package system and manage files with Dired.
Good to know
- The selected Windows 31.1_1 rebuild omits gccjit/native compilation, according to the publisher's build README.
Product images

Sources
References used for this listing. Retrieval dates do not indicate hands-on testing.
- GNU Emacs — GNU Project ↗Retrieved
- GNU Emacs download — Windows instructions ↗Retrieved
- Precompiled Distributions of Emacs for Windows — build README ↗Retrieved
- GNU FTP — Emacs 31 Windows package catalog ↗Retrieved
- GNU Emacs — A Guided Tour ↗Retrieved
- Emacs Dired buffers — Wikimedia Commons image provenance ↗Retrieved