ACPI stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. It is an industry standard that lets an operating system communicate with platform firmware and hardware to discover and configure devices and manage power. ACPI is an interface specification—not a single computer component—and is a key part of Operating System-directed configuration and Power Management (OSPM).
What ACPI defines
ACPI specifies hardware interfaces, software interfaces, and data structures that allow an operating system to work with a computer platform. Firmware supplies information and controls through these interfaces; the operating system interprets them to configure devices and manage system behavior. The ACPI 6.6 introduction describes this as OS-directed management.
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ACPI is therefore not a particular chip, setting, or power button. It is a shared standard that helps an operating system and a platform coordinate.
What the operating system uses ACPI for
ACPI supports OSPM: the operating system takes a central role in platform configuration and power policy, using interfaces provided by the platform. Depending on circumstances and platform capabilities, the operating system can move unused devices to lower-power states or put the system into a sleeping state.
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Power management is only part of ACPI’s scope. The UEFI Forum describes it as covering OS-directed configuration, power and thermal management, and reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) features across mobile, desktop, and server platforms. See the Forum’s ACPI overview and preexisting specifications.
How ACPI describes a computer to its operating system
A platform communicates information through ACPI-defined interfaces and data structures. Tables are one important part: as Microsoft’s documentation on ACPI system description tables explains, ACPI provides an extensible way to pass tables that describe the platform to the operating system. The OS can use those descriptions, along with available controls, to identify devices and manage them.
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Implementations can differ. Microsoft notes that ACPI Hardware Specification implementation is not required on SoC-based platforms, although much of the ACPI Software Specification may be required. It is more accurate to treat ACPI as a standard whose supported features depend on the platform than to assume every computer exposes every ACPI capability in the same way.
ACPI’s history and current specification
ACPI was first released in December 1996 and was originally developed by Intel, Microsoft, and Toshiba. The UEFI Forum added it to its portfolio in October 2013 and now leads its ongoing development, according to the Forum’s ACPI specifications page.
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As of October 2026, the UEFI Forum’s specifications index lists ACPI Specification Version 6.6, released in May 2025. The index is the place to check for a newer version because specification listings can change.
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