QB64 also extends the QBASIC programming language to include 64-bit data types, as well as better sound and graphics support.

Regarding the impetus for QB64, Galleon said:[6] I began to see the need for QB64 when it was clear that the introduction of VISTA would cripple QBASIC, relegating it to an ancient language only runnable on emulators which allow little/no chance of taking advantage of modern features on computers.

I have had experience writing programming languages before so I knew in advance the challenges that awaited.Starting in 2016, work began on a graphical user interface builder and event driven integrated development environment called InForm, giving features similar to Visual Basic.

program is: An example of QB64's emulation of VGA memory for compatibility: An example of how QB64 allows audio files: An example of how QB64 allows picture files: An example of how QB64 uses multiple timers: QB64's extended commands begin with an underscore in order to avoid conflicts with any names that may be used in a QuickBASIC program.

QB64 also includes an audio library which allows playing most common audio formats including MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and WAV files as well as libraries allowing users to use higher resolution graphics than the 640×480 offered by QuickBASIC,[9] use different fonts, and plot images in BMP, PNG, and JPEG formats.

This mode has its own proprietary packet encapsulation format which, whilst being easy to use with QBasic, meant that it could only be used to communicate with other QB64 programs or server backends with custom interfaces created specifically for the application.

A development branch of the repository hosted on GitHub is frequently updated with fixes and improvements, which will eventually become the next stable release.