diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e5de1ddec..54051a4ef 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ option(USE_DISCORD_PRESENCE "Enables Discord Rich Presence" OFF)
 
 option(ENABLE_MICROPROFILE "Enables microprofile capabilities" OFF)
 
+option(ENABLE_SSE42 "Enable SSE4.2 optimizations on x86_64" ON)
+
 # Compile options
 CMAKE_DEPENDENT_OPTION(COMPILE_WITH_DWARF "Add DWARF debugging information" ${IS_DEBUG_BUILD} "MINGW" OFF)
 option(ENABLE_LTO "Enable link time optimization" ${DEFAULT_ENABLE_LTO})
@@ -126,6 +128,15 @@ if (ENABLE_SDL2_FRONTEND)
     add_definitions(-DENABLE_SDL2_FRONTEND)
 endif()
 
+if(ENABLE_SSE42 AND (CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR MATCHES "x86_64|AMD64"))
+    message(STATUS "SSE4.2 enabled for x86_64")
+    if(MSVC)
+        SET(SSE42_COMPILE_OPTION /arch:SSE4.2)
+    else()
+        SET(SSE42_COMPILE_OPTION -msse4.1 -msse4.2)
+    endif()
+endif()
+
 include(CitraHandleSystemLibs)
 
 if (CITRA_USE_PRECOMPILED_HEADERS)
diff --git a/src/citra_meta/CMakeLists.txt b/src/citra_meta/CMakeLists.txt
index 68f35bbae..9f9dcd574 100644
--- a/src/citra_meta/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/citra_meta/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ if (CITRA_USE_PRECOMPILED_HEADERS)
     target_precompile_headers(citra_meta PRIVATE precompiled_headers.h)
 endif()
 
+if (SSE42_COMPILE_OPTION)
+    target_compile_definitions(citra_meta PRIVATE CITRA_HAS_SSE42)
+endif()
+
 # Bundle in-place on MSVC so dependencies can be resolved by builds.
 if (ENABLE_QT AND MSVC)
     include(BundleTarget)
diff --git a/src/citra_meta/main.cpp b/src/citra_meta/main.cpp
index 5c8936f30..8b581af6c 100644
--- a/src/citra_meta/main.cpp
+++ b/src/citra_meta/main.cpp
@@ -21,7 +21,60 @@ __declspec(dllexport) unsigned long NvOptimusEnablement = 0x00000001;
 }
 #endif
 
+#if CITRA_HAS_SSE42
+#if defined(_WIN32)
+#include <windows.h>
+#if defined(_MSC_VER)
+#include <intrin.h>
+#else
+#include <cpuid.h>
+#endif // _MSC_VER
+#else
+#include <cpuid.h>
+#endif // _WIN32
+
+static bool CpuSupportsSSE42() {
+    uint32_t ecx;
+
+#if defined(_MSC_VER)
+    int cpu_info[4];
+    __cpuid(cpu_info, 1);
+    ecx = static_cast<uint32_t>(cpu_info[2]);
+#elif defined(__GNUC__) || defined(__clang__)
+    uint32_t eax, ebx, edx;
+    if (!__get_cpuid(1, &eax, &ebx, &ecx, &edx)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+#else
+#error "Unsupported compiler"
+#endif
+
+    // Bit 20 of ECX indicates SSE4.2
+    return (ecx & (1 << 20)) != 0;
+}
+
+static bool CheckAndReportSSE42() {
+    if (!CpuSupportsSSE42()) {
+        const std::string error_msg =
+            "This application requires a CPU with SSE4.2 support or higher.\nTo run on unsupported "
+            "systems, recompile the application with the ENABLE_SSE42 option disabled.";
+#if defined(_WIN32)
+        MessageBoxA(nullptr, error_msg.c_str(), "Incompatible CPU", MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
+#endif
+        std::cerr << "Error: " << error_msg << std::endl;
+        return false;
+    }
+    return true;
+}
+#endif
+
 int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
+#if CITRA_HAS_SSE42
+    if (!CheckAndReportSSE42()) {
+        return 1;
+    }
+#endif
+
 #if ENABLE_ROOM
     bool launch_room = false;
     for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
diff --git a/src/common/CMakeLists.txt b/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
index 1bf1c2182..6aceceaa4 100644
--- a/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -206,3 +206,8 @@ if (BACKTRACE_LIBRARY AND ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME} STREQUAL "Linux" AND CMAKE_CXX_CO
     target_link_libraries(citra_common PRIVATE ${BACKTRACE_LIBRARY} dl)
     target_compile_definitions(citra_common PRIVATE CITRA_LINUX_GCC_BACKTRACE)
 endif()
+
+if (SSE42_COMPILE_OPTION)
+    target_compile_definitions(citra_common PRIVATE CITRA_HAS_SSE42)
+    target_compile_options(citra_common PRIVATE ${SSE42_COMPILE_OPTION})
+endif()
\ No newline at end of file