Play LibreQuake online — free, no download ▶ Play now — runs in the page
LibreQuake is a complete, free first-person shooter for the Quake engine: dark castles, slipgate bases, shotguns, nailguns and grenade launchers, monsters to clear and secrets to find. Everything in it was made by the open-source LibreQuake project, so it can be played here free and in full. Own the original? Load your Quake files in the same window and play that instead.
Runs in WebQuake, a JavaScript and WebGL port of the Quake engine, so there is no emulator and nothing to install. Open it full screen.
Controls — what does what
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Look / aim | Click the game to capture the mouse, then move it. Esc releases it. |
| Move | W A S D, hold Shift to run |
| Fire | Left mouse button |
| Jump / swim up | Space or right mouse button |
| Weapons | 1–8, Q or the mouse wheel to cycle |
| Menu, save, load | Esc. Quick save F6, quick load F9 |
| Phone / tablet | Left thumb moves, right thumb looks; Fire, Jump and Menu buttons on the right |
What LibreQuake is
The Quake engine has been open source since id Software released it under the GPL in 1999, but the game's data — its levels, monsters, textures and sounds — never was. So for 25 years, "free Quake" has still needed a copy of the commercial game. LibreQuake fills that gap the way Freedoom did for DOOM: a community-made replacement for every asset, under a free licence. Maps, models, textures, sounds and music are BSD-licensed, and the game code is GPL.
It is a beta, and it plays like one in places. But it is a real shooter: an eight-level episode with its own bestiary and soundtrack. It also runs on every engine that runs Quake, including this one in your browser.
Playing the original Quake with your own files
This site can't host id Software's Quake. Even the free 1996 shareware episode comes with a licence that only allows passing on the complete download, so streaming its data into a web page isn't something we're allowed to do. What you can do is bring your own copy:
- You own Quake (CD, GOG or Steam): in the game window, choose
pak0.pakandpak1.pakfrom theid1folder of the install. That's the full game. The original 1996 files work best; the 2021 re-release's files may not. - You don't: id's free shareware episode,
quake106.zip(9 MB), is still available from mirrors of id's FTP site. Download it, then choose that zip as it is. The page unpacks it in your browser and starts the first episode.
Either way the files are read inside the tab. Nothing is uploaded, and nothing is stored except your saves and settings.
Frequently asked questions
Is this Quake?
The free game is LibreQuake: a separate, open-source game built for the Quake engine, with its own maps, monsters, weapons, textures, sounds and music. It contains nothing from id Software's game data, and it isn't affiliated with id Software. If you own Quake, or download id's free 1996 shareware episode, you can load those files here and play the original in the same engine. See the licence and provenance notice.
How do I play the original Quake here?
Choose your files under Play the original Quake with your own files in the game window. That can be pak0.pak (and pak1.pak for the full game) from the id1 folder of a Quake install, or quake106.zip, the 1996 shareware episode, exactly as downloaded. The files are read inside your browser tab and never uploaded.
Do I need to download or install anything?
No. The engine is JavaScript and WebGL running in the page. LibreQuake streams its maps from this site as you play, so the first level starts after a few megabytes rather than the whole 50 MB game.
Does it save?
Yes. Use Save Game in the menu (Esc). Saves and your settings are kept in this browser on this device.
It's slow or stutters when a level loads
Each level is fetched the moment you enter it, so there's a short pause at every level change on a slow connection. Once it has loaded, it should run smoothly on any laptop from the last ten years. Phones work, but a keyboard and mouse is the way to play.
More shooters you can play in your browser
- DOOM (1993)The original shareware episode, running in DOSBox.
- FreedoomThe free DOOM-engine game — complete, not a demo.
- Duke Nukem 3DThe shareware episode of the 1996 Build-engine shooter.
- Wolfenstein 3DWhere the first-person shooter started.
- Heretic & HexenThe fantasy DOOM-engine games, shareware episodes.
- All games & appsBrowse everything you can play or run here.
Want a game like this on your own site?
Eleven of the games here we wrote from scratch, and those are free for anyone to put on their own page: one line of HTML, no account, no permission, no attribution beyond a credit line.