By Achilles Hill | Last Updated
Although applications are visually identical across architectures, there is a performance advantage in 64-bit. 64-bit applications can access more than 4GB of memory, making the application more efficient and faster than the 32-bit version, while the 32-bit client OS is limited to using less than 4 GBs of RAM only.
You don't have to use 64-bit for all applications, but it is ideal, especially for applications that would benefit from access to more memory, such as Google Chrome, Visual Studio, and many others.
In this tutorial, you'll learn the most effective methods to quickly check if an app is 32-bit or 64-bit on Windows 10 & 11. Just keep reading it and you will find the solution.
Video guide on how to check if an app is 32-bit or 64-bit on Windows 10 & 11:
Step 1: Use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.
Step 2: Click on the Details tab, right-click the column header and click on Select columns.
Step 3: Then in the pop-up window, find and check the Platform option. Click OK to finish the settings.
Step 4: Below the Platform column, you can simply check if a particular app on your PC is 32-bit or 64-bit.
Step 1: Locate the launcher file (*.exe) of the program whose architecture you want to know, then right-click on it and select Properties from there.
Step 2: Move to the Compatibility tab, check the Run this program in compatibility mode for option, then click on the drop-down list. If your list commences with Windows Vista, then your app is 64-bit. If the list commences with Windows 95, then your app is 32-bit.
If the application you are checking is installed in the default location, you can find out its binary type by checking which of the two Program Files folders it is installed in.
Step 1: Use the shortcut keys WIN+E to open File Explorer. Then open your OS drive (most commonly C:).
Step 2: If the application is installed in the Program Files folder, then it is 64-bit. If the files and the main executable are located in the Program Files (x86) folder, it is 32-bit. You can open each folder separately and see which one contains the program you want to check.
Note: There are some exceptions to this rule. For instance, the 64-bit version of Google Chrome is installed in the C:\Program Files (x86). We are uncertain of the reasons for this, but you may encounter other 64-bit apps that do the same.
Some apps have an indication in their about or help menu whether they are 64-bit or 32-bit. However, this is not a solid solution, as only some apps provide this information. For instance, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. You can do this by typing the URL edge://settings/help or chrome://settings/help into the address bar, this will open a new page telling you its version number and whether it is 64-bit or 32-bit.
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