Bottles

Name: Bottles
Brand: Bottles

A GTK app for managing isolated Wine prefixes to run Windows software and games on Linux.

softwareVirtualizationwine prefix managerlinux compatibility layerwindows apps on linux

What is Bottles?

Bottles is an open-source GTK application that manages Wine prefixes as isolated, sandboxed "bottles," letting Linux users install and run Windows software and games without one shared, fragile Wine environment. Each bottle automatically handles installation of the right Wine or Proton runner and required Windows dependencies, and includes built-in snapshot support to save and roll back a bottle's state before making risky changes. For gaming, Bottles bundles tuning options like DXVK, esync, fsync, and shader caching, plus integrated MangoHud and Gamescope support, alongside a built-in task manager for Wine processes and an experimental installers database for one-click app setup. It is licensed under GPL-3.0 and distributed primarily as a Flatpak, which the developers recommend because it also sandboxes Bottles itself and provides an exclusive compatibility runtime.

SpecificationsAI-estimated

deploymentDesktop App

open source✅ Yes

api available❌ No

support optionsDiscord, Documentation, GitHub Issues

Key Features of Bottles

Creates isolated 'bottles' or Wine prefixes so each Windows application or game runs in its own sandboxed environment.

Automatically manages Wine and Proton runner versions and installs required Windows dependencies per bottle.

Includes built-in snapshot support to save and roll back a bottle's state before risky changes.

Offers gaming-oriented tuning including DXVK, esync, fsync, shader cache, and integrated MangoHud and Gamescope support.

Provides a built-in task manager for monitoring and killing Wine processes running inside a bottle.

Supports importing and exporting bottles, plus an experimental installers database for one-click app setup.

Distributed primarily as a Flatpak, which sandboxes the app itself for additional security on the host system.

Use Cases for Bottles

Running Windows-only creative or office software

Installing Windows applications with no Linux port inside an isolated bottle.

Gaming outside Steam Proton

Running non-Steam Windows games with MangoHud, DXVK, and Gamescope tuning built in.

Testing software configurations safely

Using snapshots to experiment with DLL overrides or dependencies without breaking a working setup.

Managing multiple isolated Windows environments

Keeping separate bottles per application to avoid dependency conflicts on one Linux machine.

Pros & Cons of Bottles

Pros

Free and open source under the GPL-3.0 license.
Sandboxed, per-application bottles avoid the mess of one shared Wine prefix for everything.
Built-in snapshots make it easy to undo a broken Wine configuration.
Gaming-specific integrations like MangoHud, Gamescope, and DXVK are one toggle away instead of manual setup.

Cons

Linux-only, with Flatpak as the officially recommended and best-supported installation method.
Windows compatibility still inherits Wine's general limitations with some anti-cheat and DRM-heavy software.
The experimental installers database does not cover every application, so manual configuration is sometimes still required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bottles free?

Yes, Bottles is free and open-source software licensed under GPL-3.0.

How is Bottles different from plain Wine?

Bottles wraps Wine in a graphical, sandboxed prefix manager that automates dependency installation, runner selection, and snapshots that plain Wine handles manually.

What is the recommended way to install Bottles?

The developers recommend installing it via Flatpak, which also sandboxes Bottles itself and provides an exclusive runtime for improved compatibility.

Can Bottles run games?

Yes, it includes gaming-focused features like DXVK, esync/fsync, MangoHud, and Gamescope support for running Windows games on Linux.

Pricing Overview

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Free

Detailed plans are not listed. Visit the official website for pricing information.

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Lutris

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Lutris is an open-source video game preservation platform for Linux that brings together Wine, Proton, and dozens of emulators, including MAME, Dolphin, RetroArch, and ScummVM, behind a single launcher interface. It can sync game libraries from Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, and Humble Bundle through an optional lutris.net account, and it uses community-maintained JSON and YAML install scripts to automate setup for games and emulators that would otherwise require manual configuration. Beyond installation, Lutris lets users configure per-game runners and Wine versions, apply Vulkan-based performance tuning, and manage everything from a command-line interface as well as the GUI. It is entirely free and licensed under GPL-3.0, with an optional Patreon supporting ongoing development. As a Linux-only tool, it is commonly used both to play Windows games without a native Linux release and to preserve older titles through emulation.

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