Python on Windows on Arm: Ecosystem Enablement Update

Running Python natively on Windows on Arm requires more than a working interpreter. To have a nice developer experience, it depends on compilers, packaging, binary wheels, CI infrastructure, and support from the wider library ecosystem.

This talk provides a status update of the Python ecosystem on Windows on Arm in 2026, based on ongoing collaboration between Microsoft, Arm, and the open-source community. We will cover CPython support, packaging, wheels, tooling, and CI availability, with a focus on what developers can realistically use today.

Using widely adopted libraries such as PyTorch as examples, we will show how native Arm support is being enabled across the ecosystem, what remaining challenges projects face when supporting Windows on Arm.

The talk will also cover the developer and CI story enabled by native Arm runners and Windows 11 Arm images on GitHub Actions, and how this infrastructure lowers the barrier for projects to add and maintain Windows on Arm support.

The goal is to give a snapshot of the current state, highlight the remaining gaps, and explain how contributors and maintainers can participate to the ongoing effort.