Emacs Version History

By Xah Lee. Date: 2022-04-06. Last updated: 2025-03-06.

2025-02-23 • Emacs 30.1 • Emacs 30 (date 2025)
2023-07-30 • Emacs 29.1 • Emacs 29 (date 2023)
2022-04-04 • Emacs 28.1 • Emacs 28 (date 2022)
2021-03-25 • Emacs 27.2
2020-08-10 • Emacs 27.1 • Emacs 27 (date 2020)
2019-08-28 • Emacs 26.3
2019-04-12 • Emacs 26.2
2018-05-28 • Emacs 26.1 • Emacs 26 (date 2018) Concurrency/threads
2017-09-11 • Emacs 25.3
2017-04-21 • Emacs 25.2
2016-09-17 • Emacs 25.1 • Emacs 25 (date 2016)
2015-04-10 • Emacs 24.5
2014-10-20 • Emacs 24.4 • Emacs 24.4 (date 2014-10)
2013-03-11 • Emacs 24.3 • Emacs 24.3 Common Lisp Package Name Change
2012-08-27 • Emacs 24.2
2012-06-10 • Emacs 24.1 • Emacs 24 (date 2012) Bidirectional text display
2012-01-29 • Emacs 23.4
2011-03-10 • Emacs 23.3
2010-05-08 • Emacs 23.2 • Emacs 23.2 (date 2010-05) open large files up to 512 mb.
2009-07-29 • Emacs 23.1 • Unicode-based internal representation of text in Emacs 23. • Emacs client/server. • Visual lines. • New font engine. Now support Operating System's fonts. • Emacs 23 (date 2009-07) • Installing ELPA Package System for Emacs 23
2008-09-05 • Emacs 22.3
2008-03-26 • Emacs 22.2
2007-06-02 • Emacs 22.1 • Emacs 22 (date 2007) ido mode
2005-02-17 • Emacs 21.4a • Emacs 21.4 with an updated notice in etc/PROBLEMS
2005-02-06 • Emacs 21.4
2003-03-24 • Emacs 21.3
2002-03-18 • Emacs 21.2
2001-10-28 • Emacs 21.1 • New display engine with support for variable-size fonts and TTY colors in Emacs 21.
2000-06-13 • Emacs 20.7
2000-02-15 • Emacs 20.6
1999-12-04 • Emacs 20.5
1999-07-12 • Emacs 20.4
1998-08-19 • Emacs 20.3
1997-09-19 • Emacs 20.2
1997-09-15 • Emacs 20.1 • Support for non-ASCII text.
1996-08-22 • Emacs 19.34
1996-08-21 • Emacs 19.34
1996-08-11 • Emacs 19.33
1996-07-31 • Emacs 19.32
1996-05-25 • Emacs 19.31
1995-11-24 • Emacs 19.30
1995-06-19 • Emacs 19.29
1994-10-06 • Emacs 19.28 • Initial support for X
1994-09-07 • Emacs 19.26
1994-05-30 • Emacs 19.25
1994-05-23 • Emacs 19.24
1994-05-16 • Emacs 19.23
1993-11-27 • Emacs 19.22
1993-11-16 • Emacs 19.21
1993-11-11 • Emacs 19.20
1993-08-14 • Emacs 19.19
1993-08-08 • Emacs 19.18
1993-07-19 • Emacs 19.17
1993-07-06 • Emacs 19.16
1993-06-19 • Emacs 19.15
1993-06-17 • Emacs 19.14
1993-06-08 • Emacs 19.13
1993-06-02 • Emacs 19.12
1993-06-01 • Emacs 19.11
1993-05-30 • Emacs 19.10
1993-05-27 • Emacs 19.9
1993-05-24 • Emacs 19.8
1993-05-22 • Emacs 19.7
1992-10-31 • Emacs 18.59
1992-10-30 • Emacs 18.59
1991-02-18 • Emacs 18.58
1991-01-25 • Emacs 18.57
1991-01-16 • Emacs 18.56
1989-08-23 • Emacs 18.55
1989-04-26 • Emacs 18.54
1989-02-24 • Emacs 18.53
1988-09-01 • Emacs 18.52
1988-05-07 • Emacs 18.51
1988-02-13 • Emacs 18.50
1987-09-18 • Emacs 18.49
1987-08-30 • Emacs 18.48
1987-06-10 • Emacs 18.47
1987-06-08 • Emacs 18.46
1987-06-02 • Emacs 18.45
1987-03-22 • Emacs 18.41
1986-10-02 • Emacs 18.24
1986-05-12 • Emacs 17.64
1986-05-07 • Emacs 17.63
1986-04-22 • Emacs 17.61
1986-04-04 • Emacs 17.58
1986-03-27 • Emacs 17.57
1986-03-18 • Emacs 17.55
1986-02-12 • Emacs 17.49
1986-02-10 • Emacs 17.48
1986-02-04 • Emacs 17.46
1986-01-25 • Emacs 17.43
1985-12-20 • Emacs 17.36
1985-09-19 • Emacs 16.60
1985-09-17 • Emacs 16.59
1985-09-17 • Emacs 16.58
1985-09-16 • Emacs 16.57
1985-07-15 • Emacs 16.56
1985-05-07 • Emacs 15.34
1985-04-10 • Emacs 15.10
1985-03-20 • Emacs 13

2017-12-22 parts of history summary are based on Eli Zaretskii's post at https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/7kpwmb/how_much_has_emacs_core_changed_over_the_years/drgtqyx/ (Eli is a long time core emacs developer.)