: These AES keys are proprietary Nintendo property. Distributing them is generally considered a violation of copyright law.
AES: Keeping Your Data Secure with Advance Encryption Standard aes-keys.txt citra
If the Citra developers were to include the aes-keys.txt file in their official download package, they would be distributing copyrighted material. This would expose them to immediate lawsuits from Nintendo, likely resulting in the shutdown of the project. To stay within legal boundaries, the Citra team builds the emulator to support the keys if the user provides them, but they cannot provide the keys themselves. : These AES keys are proprietary Nintendo property
The most legal way to obtain this file is to dump it directly from your own modded Nintendo 3DS console using a tool like This would expose them to immediate lawsuits from
Since the original Citra was discontinued in 2024, newer forks like