Contour is a modern and actually fast, modal, virtual terminal emulator, for everyday use. It is aiming for power
users with a modern feature mindset.
Publisher’s description
What is Contour?
Contour is an open-source terminals & cli tool program for Windows from Contour Terminal Emulator. It is written in C++. Besides Windows, it is available for Linux.
Installation and requirements
Official installers exist for 64-bit as MSI and Portable. The installer supports unattended (silent) installation. An MSI package is available for deployment with Group Policy, Intune or Configuration Manager.
Updates and version history
The current version is 0.7.0.8982, released on August 17, 2026. 4 versions are listed since December 31, 2024, each with links to its own installer files. That is about 2.5 releases a year.
Popularity and file types
The source code on GitHub (contour-terminal/contour) has 3,049 stars. Similar programs include PowerShell, Oh My Posh and Alacritty.
Project description on GitHub: “Modern C++ Terminal Emulator”
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Open source: the code can be inspected and built by anyone
- MSI package for managed deployment
- Documented silent install
- Also runs on Linux
Cons
- No native ARM64 build
In short: Contour is an open-source terminals & cli tool tool for 64-bit PCs. Administrators can deploy it unattended.
Key features
- Available on all major platforms, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Windows.
- GPU-accelerated rendering.
- Font ligatures support (such as in Fira Code).
- Unicode: Emoji support (-: 🌈 💝 😛 👪 - including ZWJ, VS15, VS16 emoji :-)
- Unicode: Grapheme cluster support
- Bold and italic fonts
- High-DPI support.
- Vertical Line Markers (quickly jump to markers in your history!)
- Vi-like input modes for improved selection and copy'n'paste experience and Vi-like scrolloff feature.
- Blurred behind transparent background when using Windows 10 or KDE window manager on Linux.
- Blurrable Background image support.
- Runtime configuration reload
- 256-color and Truecolor support
- Key binding customization
AppStream · Flathub
Is Contour safe to download?
- The file is served by github.com, the publisher’s own domain
- The download link uses HTTPS
- A SHA256 hash is published, so you can verify the file:
29BED53DD40AE8625A0489DEAEA6A7303E18678869116622CAD69F687440042E· Open the VirusTotal report for this hash - The link has not been checked yet
- The source code is public
- ExeAtlas does not host, wrap or modify installers
Related guide: How to check a file’s SHA256 hash on Windows
Recent versions
All 4 versions ›4 versions over 2 years · about 2.5 a year
| Version | Date | Size | Files |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.7.0.8982Latest | August 17, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP64-bit MSI |
| 0.6.3.8249 | April 9, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP64-bit MSI |
| 0.6.2.8008 | January 7, 2026 | — | 64-bit ZIP64-bit MSI |
| 0.6.1.7494 | December 31, 2024 | — | 64-bit MSI |
Install from the command line
Silent install ›winget install --id contour-terminal.Contour -escoop install extras/contourmsiexec /i contour-0.7.0.8982-win64.msi /qn /norestartmsiexec /x {0E736497-2B72-4117-95E9-54EC6D000700} /qn /norestartRelated guide: How to use winget: install and update apps
Also for other systems
brew install --cask contourflatpak install flathub org.contourterminal.ContourInformation
- Publisher
- Contour Terminal Emulator
- Category
- Terminals & CLI tools
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Price
- Free
- Source code
- github.com/contour-terminal/contour
- Written in
- C++
- Content rating
- All ages
- Requires
- Windows 11 / 10
- Architecture
- 64-bit
- Installer
- MSI, Portable
- Other platforms
- Linux
- Version
- 0.7.0.8982
- Released
- August 17, 2026
- Added to the catalogue
- March 5, 2025
- Versions listed
- 4
- Updates / year
- 2.5
- GitHub stars
- 3,049
- GitHub forks
- 154
- Website
- github.com
- winget ID
- contour-terminal.Contour
- Scoop package
- extras/contour
- MSI product code
- {0E736497-2B72-4117-95E9-54EC6D000700}
Ratings and reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to rate it.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Contour free?
Yes. Contour is open-source software under the Apache-2.0 licence.
Is Contour safe to download?
The download comes from github.com, which belongs to the publisher; ExeAtlas does not host or change the file. Compare its SHA256 hash with the one shown here, or open the VirusTotal report for that hash.
How do I install Contour with winget?
Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal and run the winget command shown on this page. winget downloads the official installer and checks its SHA256 hash before running it.
Can Contour be installed silently?
Yes. The silent install page lists the exact command for each installer, including msiexec for the MSI package.
Does Contour run on ARM (Windows on Arm)?
There is no ARM64 build; Windows 11 on Arm can run the 64-bit version through emulation.
Where can I download an older version of Contour?
The versions page lists all 4 versions with links to their official installer files, back to December 31, 2024.
What are alternatives to Contour?
PowerShell, Oh My Posh, Alacritty, QPDF and Tabby. The alternatives page compares them.
