Choosing a WAD editor

A WAD editor allows you to edit WAD files to add and modify sprites, music, sound effects, DeHackEd patches, and various other features. Some level editors have a WAD editor built in, such as DeePsea.

While the eXtendable WAD Editor (XWE) has long been considered a standard, it has not been developed for several years, has various compatibility issues with versions of Windows newer than XP, and can easily corrupt your WADs. If you are new to editing, it is strongly recommended that you consider an editor such as SLADE instead. It is more stable, much more flexible, and (as of April 2014) still being actively maintained. Use XWE only at your own risk.

If you are interested in level editing, SLADE and Doom Builder 2 are good choices. WadAuthor requires paid registration, and is an older utility that does not support the newest map formats like UDMF for modern source ports such as ZDoom.

Mac

 * Wad Builder
 * Hellmaker
 * SLADE
 * Deimos
 * WWKSuite

Windows

 * SLADE
 * Doom Builder 2
 * WinTex
 * New WAD Tool (NWT) and NWT Pro
 * Doom Builder (no longer developed)
 * eXtendable WAD Editor (XWE) (abandoned)
 * WadAuthor (requires paid registration for full access)
 * Doom Engine WAD Reader and Extractor, http://www.terrybutler.co.uk/tools/doom-engine-wad-reader-and-extractor/

Linux/Unix

 * DeuTex/DeuSF
 * Yadex
 * UnWAD