Good to know: What is DirectX?

18.02.2019

Many gamers are probably familiar with DirectX, but it is also often an issue for mini PCs, especially when it comes to programming multimedia content. But what exactly is DirectX?

DirectX is a programming interface or API (short for "Application Programming Interface") for multimedia applications and games under Windows and on the Xbox games console. It acts as a link between the hardware, the Windows operating system and the program you are using, usually games. As the hardware (such as graphics card, sound card, mouse) and computer games come from numerous different manufacturers, this standardized interface guarantees a smooth process and facilitates the development of new products. This is because game developers only have to observe the DirectX specifications instead of adapting their game to a number of graphics cards.

How did DirectX come about?

DirectX was originally developed for PC games. When Microsoft Windows became more and more widespread in the 1990s, there was a so-called WinAPI for applications, but no API for fast graphics and audio playback, as required for games. These were therefore often only developed for MS-DOS. After the success of the game "Doom", Microsoft also recognized the potential of PC games and began to develop its own programming interfaces for Windows 95. As a result, version 1.0 of DirectX was released, but it took until version 3.0 for DirectX to be taken seriously by game developers. Over the years, DirectX has been developed further and further, with the current version DirectX12 being introduced in 2014.

How is DirectX structured?

DirectX is used in the entire multimedia sector: for displaying graphics, playing audio, but also for input devices such as mice and joysticks. It consists of the following parts: DirectX Graphics enables access to the graphics card; DirectSound is responsible for the playback and recording of sound and has since been replaced by XAudio 2; DirectMusic enables the playback of music; DirectInput is the standard for input devices such as keyboard, mouse or a joystick, since Windows XP it has been replaced by XInput; DirectPlay is used for communication in multiplayer games and DirectShow for processing video and audio files.

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