The Wine project released version 10.16 on October 3, 2025, a bi-weekly development build focused on running Windows games and applications on Linux. This update delivers significant performance and compatibility advancements, headlined by the integration of fast synchronization support via NTSYNC on modern Linux kernels. The release also introduces a new WoW64 mode for 16-bit applications and resolves 34 documented bugs.
Key Architectural Updates
The most notable enhancement in this release is the now-functional fast synchronization support using NTSYNC. This integration is in good standing for systems running Linux kernel 6.14 or newer, promising substantial performance improvements.
Compatibility for legacy software sees a major step forward with the introduction of a new WoW64 mode that supports 16-bit applications. Previously, some 16-bit applications would fail in this mode. Development continues on the graphics front with initial support for D3DKMT objects. Additionally, the build process now generates and installs Windows Metadata (WinMD) files.
Notable Bug Fixes
This cycle’s 34 fixes address a wide range of issues in gaming, applications, and core system components. Gamers will find resolutions for problems that caused multiple titles to have no character animation, including Alpha Polaris and Face Noir. Other fixes target launch failures and graphical glitches in games like Shadow Company: Left for Dead, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Dark Forces II Demo, and both Wolfenstein: The New Order and The Old Blood. An issue causing Overwatch to lose focus on respawn has also been corrected.
The update also resolves a critical regression from version 10.15 that caused a blank screen in Direct3D applications under wined3d. For productivity, a fix was implemented for Lotus Word Pro 9.8, where the file menu failed to display filenames correctly. The developers also addressed a crash in Xenia Canary that appeared in Wine 10.13 and an unhandled exception in Camerabag Pro 2025.2 when loading JPEG files.
You can download the source code for Wine 10.16 directly from the official repository. For pre-compiled binary packages, check your distribution’s download site—a complete list is available in the official documentation.
