Debian CPU Architectures
The 8 CPU architectures officially supported by Debian 13: amd64, arm64, armel, armhf, i386, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x — plus LoongArch port status and how to check your own architecture.
Debian 13 (Trixie) officially supports 8 CPU architectures (per the official archive Release index), spanning everything from hobby boards to mainframes. Use this page as a quick reference when choosing a download image or identifying your system.
Official architectures
| Architecture | Full name | Typical hardware |
|---|---|---|
| amd64 | 64-bit x86 (x86-64) | Most Intel/AMD desktops, laptops, servers |
| arm64 | 64-bit ARM | Raspberry Pi 4/5, Apple Silicon VMs, Ampere ARM servers |
| armhf | 32-bit ARM (hard-float) | Older ARM boards and devices |
| armel | 32-bit ARM (soft-float, EABI) | Even older embedded ARM devices |
| i386 | 32-bit x86 | Legacy PCs and niche scenarios |
| ppc64el | 64-bit little-endian POWER | IBM POWER servers |
| riscv64 | 64-bit RISC-V | Emerging RISC-V boards like VisionFive 2 (first official support in Debian 13) |
| s390x | IBM Z mainframe | z Systems environments |
Notable Trixie changes: every architecture except i386 now uses the 64-bit time_t ABI, solving the 2038 problem; and the mips64el architecture was dropped in this release.
The ARM family: arm64 vs armhf vs armel
- arm64 (AArch64): 64-bit ARM — the choice for Raspberry Pi 4/5, modern boards, and ARM servers
- armhf: 32-bit ARM with hard-float — early Raspberry Pi models and older boards
- armel: 32-bit ARM with soft-float — very old embedded devices, rarely relevant today
riscv64: first official support in Debian 13
RISC-V is an open instruction set architecture; boards like the VisionFive 2 run official Debian 13 images. Debian 12 laid the groundwork, and 13 is the first release with riscv64 as an official architecture.
LoongArch status
Loongson's loong64 architecture is not part of the official release; it exists as an in-progress port on debian-ports (partially usable — check the official page for current status). Loongson devices typically ship vendor systems such as Loongnix, or track the loong64 port's progress.
Check your own architecture
dpkg --print-architecture
uname -mMapping from uname -m: x86_64 → amd64, aarch64 → arm64, riscv64 → riscv64, loongarch64 → loong64, armv7l → armhf.
Related pages
- Hardware & Drivers: NVIDIA, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth guides
- Versions & Lifecycle
- Debian 14 (Forky): what changes next