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;It's important to know that emulation accuracy and compatibility are two different things; while how closely an emulator mimics the original hardware is important, don't mistake that for compatibility. Whether games run properly is a separate concern, accuracy can sometimes influence it. See [[#Perfection.3F|"perfection"]] and [[#Controversy|"controversy"]] sections.

Within the realm of computer science, emulation occupies a niche distinct from virtualization or other techniques. Whereas hypervisors usually used for partitioning physical hardware resources among multiple guest operating systems, and simulators where developers build virtual replicas of specific environments or processes, emulation endeavors to recreate an entire historical architecture. This digital reconstruction seeks to faithfully capture the instruction set, timing behaviors, hardware features and even peripheral nuances of a bygone hardware platform. Unlike compatibility layers, which translate software instructions to a native format, emulation builds a virtual stage upon which the software itself can perform authentically. Emulation's intricate tapestry sometimes intertwines with threads of other technologies though. Notably, certain emulators leverage hypervisors for a more efficient handling of resource allocation and isolation. Additionally, some emulators employ compatibility layers as subcomponents, acting as translators for specific libraries or APIs that might otherwise be incompatible with the host environment. Think of these layers as linguistic bridges, allowing the emulated software to converse fluently with the modern system hardware. By strategically merging these techniques and the help of [[Wikipedia:Category:Emulation_software#Pages_in_category|compilation/recompilation techniques]] and other optimizations, certain emulators achieve impressive levels of performance and compatibility, further unlocking the doors to historical software [[Preservation_projects|preservation]].