Collection of multimedia related APIs on Microsoft platforms
"DX9" redirects here. For the synthesizer, see Yamaha DX9.
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DirectX
Developer(s)
Microsoft
Initial release
September 30, 1995; 28 years ago (1995-09-30)
Stable release
12 Ultimate API
/ October 5, 2021; 2 years ago (2021-10-05)
Operating system
Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone 8, Dreamcast,[1] Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Linux (Gallium Nine) (DirectX 12 only, Exclusive to Windows Subsystem for Linux)[2]
Type
API
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct", such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, and so forth. The name DirectX was coined as a shorthand term for all of these APIs (the X standing in for the particular API names) and soon became the name of the collection. When Microsoft later set out to develop a gaming console, the X was used as the basis of the name Xbox to indicate that the console was based on DirectX technology.[3] The X initial has been carried forward in the naming of APIs designed for the Xbox such as XInput and the Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT), while the DirectX pattern has been continued for Windows APIs such as Direct2D and DirectWrite.
Direct3D (the 3D graphics API within DirectX) is widely used in the development of video games for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox line of consoles. Direct3D is also used by other software applications for visualization and graphics tasks such as CAD/CAM engineering. As Direct3D is the most widely publicized component of DirectX, it is common to see the names "DirectX" and "Direct3D" used interchangeably.
The DirectX software development kit (SDK) consists of runtime libraries in redistributable binary form, along with accompanying documentation and headers for use in coding. Originally, the runtimes were only installed by games or explicitly by the user. Windows 95 did not launch with DirectX, but DirectX was included with Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.[4] Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 both shipped with DirectX, as has every version of Windows released since. The SDK is available as a free download. While the runtimes are proprietary, closed-source software, source code is provided for most of the SDK samples. Starting with the release of Windows 8 Developer Preview, DirectX SDK has been integrated into Windows SDK.[5]
^"Dreamcast Technical Pages". June 1999.
^"Microsoft Announces Direct3D 12 For Linux / WSL2". May 19, 2020.
^"Microsoft: The meaning of Xbox - The Economist". The Economist. November 24, 2005.
^"DirectX Help". computerhope.com.
^"Where is the DirectX SDK?". microsoft.com. Microsoft.
APIs all began with "Direct", such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, and so forth. The name DirectX was coined as a shorthand...
DirectX Diagnostic Tool (DxDiag) is a diagnostics tool used to test DirectX functionality and troubleshoot video- or sound-related hardware problems....
DirectX Raytracing (DXR) is a feature introduced in Microsoft's DirectX 12 that implements ray tracing, for video graphic rendering. DXR was released...
In computer music and professional audio creation, a DirectX plugin is a software processing component that can be loaded as a plugin into host applications...
Managed DirectX (MDX) is Microsoft's deprecated API for DirectX programming on .NET Framework. MDX can be used from any language on .NET Framework (via...
DirectX Media is a set of multimedia-related APIs for Microsoft Windows complementing DirectX. Retained Mode was used by a variety of applications and...
these APIs. Examples include: DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2 circa 2004; DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3 circa 2008; and most recently, DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4 circa 2011...
DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) is a Microsoft API specification for the Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 platforms that allows video decoding to be...
computer. Four engineers from Microsoft's DirectX team—Kevin Bachus, Seamus Blackley, Ted Hase and DirectX team leader Otto Berkes, began to envision...
application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications...
generation, Arc only includes direct hardware support for the DirectX 11 & 12 and Vulkan graphics APIs, with the older DirectX 9 & 10 and OpenGL APIs being...
DirectPlay is part of Microsoft's DirectX API. It is a network communication library intended for computer game development, although it can be used for...
shader language for DirectX 9 and higher and Xbox game consoles. It is related to Nvidia's Cg, but is only supported by DirectX and Xbox. HLSL programs...
safer for use with workloads that rely on ECC. The series also supports DirectX 12 on Windows 10. Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) was added to Kepler GPUs...
1982. It is built on an upgraded graphics rendering engine, showcasing DirectX 10 features in Windows Vista and was marketed by Microsoft as the most...
and later versions. DirectCompute is part of the Microsoft DirectX collection of APIs, and was initially released with the DirectX 11 API but runs on graphics...
2010-12-02. "INTRODUCING 3DMARK TIME SPY DIRECTX 12 BENCHMARK TEST". Retrieved 23 June 2016. "3DMARK TIME SPY - DIRECTX 12 BENCHMARK TEST AVAILABLE NOW". Retrieved...
DirectX Graphics Infrastructure (DXGI) is a user-mode component of Microsoft Windows (for Windows Vista and above) which provides a mapping between particular...
its flagship product line and the direct competitor to Nvidia's GeForce. The original Radeon DDR was ATI's first DirectX 7 3D accelerator, introducing their...
generated that input While DirectInput forms a part of the DirectX library, it has not been significantly revised since DirectX 8 (2001–2002). Microsoft...
new Direct3D 10.x and 11 texture formats. Initial DDS support landed in GIMP 2.10.10 released on April 4, 2019. DirectX Direct3D DirectDraw DXTn (S3 Texture...
libraries have different preferences here. OpenGL prefers column vectors, DirectX row vectors. The decision determines from which side the point vectors...
is no longer bundled. Windows 10 includes DirectX 12, alongside WDDM 2.0. Unveiled March 2014 at GDC, DirectX 12 aims to provide "console-level efficiency"...
shuttle-derived launch vehicle DirectX, a proprietary dynamic media platform Direct current, a direct flow of electricity Direct examination, the in-trial...
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