Can savefiles be used interchangeably between emulators?

[Double44]

Is it possible to use a savefile created by one emulator, on a different emulator (of the same console) that performs even better?

Does the same go for ROMs too? Can the saves of a potentially damaged ROM be used on a different (good) ROM of the same game?

[Zorlon]

Battery and memcards saves yes but in general Save States are not though

Yes and yes unless the damaged rom created a corrupt save to start with then moving that save to a good rom will not fix the save data

[Double44]

Hmm I'm not familiar with the use of memory cards inside an emulator, the files below are all I've ever needed for saves?

.srm
.state.auto
.state1 .state2

...what are the differences between these three anyway? I also don't understand the differences between a 'Save' a 'Savestate', or an in-game save. Do i ever need to save in-game if I've got emulator options?

[MaslowK]

In this case, a "Save" would just be an in game save (made using the games built-in save points) and is the .srm file. These types of saves can usually be transferred between different emulators for the same console, but not always. Easiest way to tell is to start a new game in the new emulator, save somewhere, and see if it makes the same type of file (in this case, .srm).

"Savestates" are saves that can be made at any time using an emulators save state function. Most emulators have multiple "slots" you can make savestates in, so you can have more than one at once, hence .state1, .state2, etc. The .state.auto file is probably a savestate made automatically by your emulator at specific intervals. Usually different emulators, even for the same console, will not support the same save state files (for example, zsnes uses .zst and snes9x uses .000, .001, etc).

Technically you can play entire games using only savestates, but I always recommend also making in game saves whenever possible just in case you accidentally savestate at a bad spot. You'll also need to be using actual save points if you want to transfer them between different emulators.

[Zorlon]

For save states it's not even just the file types but it's the fact that save states do not just save that state of the game itself but also the state of the emulator including setting ect that make them only work with the emulator they are created on, to further this save states sometimes don't even work on older/newer versions of the same emulator