PyQt5-WinARM64

Native Windows ARM64 builds of PyQt5.

PyQt5-WinARM64 exists because upstream distributes PyQt5 for Windows x86/x64 but not native Windows ARM64, despite the underlying stack being capable of supporting it.

This repository builds and validates PyQt5 against a native Windows ARM64 CPython and a native ARM64 Qt 5.15.19 build.

Current release

PyQt5-WinARM64 5.15.11.post1 (PyPI · GitHub release)

Wheel	For
pyqt5_winarm64-5.15.11.post1-cp39-abi3-win_arm64.whl	CPython 3.9+ on Windows ARM64
pyqt5_sip_winarm64-12.17.0-cp313-cp313-win_arm64.whl	CPython 3.13
pyqt5_sip_winarm64-12.17.0-cp314-cp314-win_arm64.whl	CPython 3.14

• PyQt5 5.15.11, built against Qt 5.15.19 (qtbase) natively for ARM64
• The Qt runtime and Qt plugins are bundled in PyQt5\Qt5
• The ARM64 MSVC C++ runtime is bundled, so the Visual C++ Redistributable is not required
• PyQt5-sip 12.17.0 for CPython 3.13 and 3.14

The PyQt5 wheel uses the Stable ABI (cp39-abi3), so one wheel serves every supported CPython version. The SIP wheel is specific to each CPython version, and pip picks the right one automatically.

Installation

You need a native ARM64 CPython 3.13 or 3.14 (the "ARM64" installer from python.org). Check with:

python -c "import platform; print(platform.machine())"   # must print ARM64

Then install from PyPI:

python -m pip install PyQt5-WinARM64

PyQt5-sip is pulled in as the matching PyQt5-sip-WinARM64 dependency. Nothing else is required: Qt and the Visual C++ runtime are inside the wheel.

The Python import namespace remains the standard PyQt5 namespace:

from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication

app = QApplication([])

The distribution is specifically for native Windows ARM64 Python. It is not an x64 compatibility build. Do not install it alongside the upstream PyQt5 package in the same environment; both provide the PyQt5 import package.

To use it from a requirements.txt that must also work on other platforms, select it with environment markers:

PyQt5==5.15.11; platform_machine != "ARM64"
PyQt5-WinARM64==5.15.11.post1; sys_platform == "win32" and platform_machine == "ARM64"

Checking an installation

python -c "import PyQt5, PyQt5.QtCore as c; print(c.PYQT_VERSION_STR, c.QT_VERSION_STR, c.QLibraryInfo.location(c.QLibraryInfo.PrefixPath))"

This should print 5.15.11 5.15.19 followed by a path ending in site-packages/PyQt5/Qt5. Any other prefix means Qt is being picked up from somewhere other than the wheel.

Known issues in 5.15.11

5.15.11 is yanked from PyPI and must not be used.

• No Qt runtime (PyPI and GitHub release). pyqt-bundle writes its output to the current directory, and the release workflow packaged the unbundled wheel it found in dist\ instead. The smoke test still passed because the build runner's own Qt was on PATH, and a failing pip install in that step was not checked.
• Malformed metadata (old GitHub release assets only). The wheels that were attached to the 5.15.11 GitHub release contain pyqt5_winarm64-info.dist-info and pyqt5_sip_winarm64-info.dist-info. pip installs them, but then crashes with InvalidVersion: 'info' whenever it lists installed packages. The PyPI copies of 5.15.11 do not have this problem.

To recover:

python -m pip install --upgrade PyQt5-WinARM64

If pip itself crashes with InvalidVersion: 'info', delete these folders from your environment's Lib\site-packages first, then run the install again:

• pyqt5_winarm64-info.dist-info
• pyqt5_sip_winarm64-info.dist-info
• PyQt5

Build and validation

The project deliberately validates the stack in stages:

1. Native Windows ARM64 runner
2. ARM64 CPython
3. ARM64 MSVC
4. Native ARM64 Qt 5.15.19
5. PyQt5-sip for each supported CPython version
6. PyQt5
7. Native Qt runtime and MSVC runtime bundling
8. Wheel validation (tools/verify_wheel.py): .dist-info name, METADATA, every RECORD hash, and the presence of the Qt runtime and qwindows platform plugin
9. ARM64 PE validation of every .pyd and .dll
10. Clean installation on a fresh runner with no Qt on the machine, on CPython 3.13 and 3.14
11. Smoke test (tools/pyqt5_smoke.py) that fails unless Qt is loaded from the installed wheel itself

No wheel is released until every stage passes. The PyPI publish workflow runs tools/verify_wheel.py again before it uploads anything.

Release history

Version	Date	Notes
PyQt5-WinARM64 5.15.11.post1, PyQt5-sip-WinARM64 12.17.0	2026-10-10	Qt 5.15.19 runtime and ARM64 MSVC runtime bundled; SIP wheels for CPython 3.13 and 3.14
PyQt5-WinARM64 5.15.11, PyQt5-sip-WinARM64 12.15.0	2026-10-05	Yanked. Missing Qt runtime; see Known issues

Distribution names

The upstream PyPI projects PyQt5 and PyQt5-sip already exist, so this project publishes distinct distribution names:

• PyQt5-WinARM64
• PyQt5-sip-WinARM64

The installed Python modules remain PyQt5 and PyQt5.sip/SIP's normal extension namespace.

Build inputs

The release pipeline pins and verifies:

• PyQt5 5.15.11 (published as 5.15.11.post1)
• PyQt5-sip 12.17.0
• SIP 6.10.0
• PyQt-builder 1.17.0
• Qt 5.15.19
• WinFlexBison 2.5.25

The PyQt5, PyQt5-sip, and Qt source archives are SHA-256 verified before use.

The GitHub Actions release workflow uses PyPI Trusted Publishing (OIDC). No long-lived PyPI API token is stored in the repository.

Licensing

This repository's build and automation code is MIT licensed.

The produced PyQt5 distribution contains software under its upstream licenses. PyQt5 5.15.11 is GPLv3 (with Riverbank's commercial licensing option), PyQt5-sip is BSD-2-Clause, the bundled Qt components are distributed under their applicable Qt licenses, and the bundled Microsoft Visual C++ runtime DLLs are redistributed under the Visual Studio redistributable terms. The wheel carries the relevant upstream license files.

Project

GitHub: https://github.com/ViciousSquid/PyQt5-WinARM64