If you are troubleshooting an old legacy app, it may require the original version specifically, though installing the latest version usually works due to backward compatibility. However, Microsoft now links the latest redistributable packages on their official "Latest Supported Visual C++ Downloads" page, which supersedes the 2013 original links.
Unlike the .NET Framework, Visual C++ Redistributables are not cumulative. The 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022 packages share the same runtime files (and can overwrite each other), but the 2013 package uses completely different DLLs (version 120). If you remove the 2013 package, any software built in 2013 will stop working. c++ redistributable 2013
Download the appropriate .exe file from the official Microsoft page. Right-click the file and select . If you are troubleshooting an old legacy app,
Why does it still matter? Because software lives longer than we expect. A medical imaging tool. An industrial PLC configurator. An indie game from 2015. An internal corporate tool built by someone who left nine years ago. All of them statically expect exactly that 2013 runtime — not 2015, not 2017, not the "Universal C Runtime." The 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022 packages share