Simple DirectMedia Layer

Sam Lantinga created the library, first releasing it in early 1998, while working for Loki Software. He got the idea while porting a Windows application to Macintosh. He then used SDL to port Doom to BeOS (see Doom source ports).{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030511174315/http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-making-linux-fun/|url=http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-making-linux-fun/|title=SDL: Making Linux fun|first=Sam|last=Lantinga|author-link=Sam Lantinga|date=1999-09-01|access-date=2023-12-15|archive-date=11 May 2003|website=IBM|url-status=live}} Around the time of its creation, SDL was regarded as a simple alternative to DirectX.{{cite web |title=Articles relating to SDL |url=https://www.libsdl.org/articles.php |website=Simple DirectMedia Layer |access-date=22 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031009043921/http://www.libsdl.org/articles.php |archive-date=9 Oct 2003 |url-status=dead}} Search with the keywords "alternative", "simple" or "DirectX" in the page. Several other free libraries were developed to work alongside SDL, such as SMPEG and {{Clarification needed span|OpenAL|date=January 2025|reason=alternative implementation of OpenAL?}}. He also founded Galaxy Gameworks in 2008 to help commercially support SDL, although the company plans are currently on hold due to time constraints.{{cite web |title=Exploring the Galaxy | url=http://slouken.blogspot.com/2011/04/exploring-galaxy.html | date=6 April 2011| access-date=30 January 2012}}

Soon after putting Galaxy Gameworks on hold, Lantinga announced that SDL 1.3 (which would then later become SDL 2.0) would be licensed under the zlib License.[http://forums.libsdl.org/viewtopic.php?t=7148 SDL 1.3 to be zLib Licensed], SDL Mailing List, 7 April 2011 Lantinga announced SDL 2.0 on 14 July 2012, at the same time announcing that he was joining Valve, the first version of which was announced the same day he joined the company.{{cite web | url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE0MDU | title=SDL 2.0 Is Coming Very Soon With New Features | access-date=17 August 2012}} Lantinga announced the stable release of SDL 2.0.0 on 13 August 2013.[http://forums.libsdl.org/viewtopic.php?p=38569&sid=9efbea827cdebd71ee430cda823bcdc7#38569 Announcing SDL 2.0.0], SDL Mailing List, 13 August 2013

SDL 2.0 is a major update to the SDL 1.2 codebase with a different, not backwards-compatible[https://wiki.libsdl.org/moin.cgi/MigrationGuide#Backward-compatibility MigrationGuide - SDL Wiki']. Wiki.libsdl.org (21 November 2013). Retrieved on 2013-12-08. API. It replaces several parts of the 1.2 API with more general support for multiple input and output options. Some feature additions include multiple window support, hardware-accelerated 2D graphics, and better Unicode support.{{cite web |url=https://wiki.libsdl.org/moin.cgi/Roadmap |title=SDL 1.3 Roadmap|date=14 June 2011 |access-date=25 July 2011}}

Support for Mir and Wayland was added in SDL 2.0.2{{cite web|url=http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2014/02/mir-sdl-support |title=Some of Linux's Most Popular Games Will Run Natively On Mir |first=Joey-Elijah |last=Sneddon |date=5 February 2014 |access-date=19 March 2014}} and enabled by default in SDL 2.0.4.{{cite web|url=https://hg.libsdl.org/SDL/file/release-2.0.4/WhatsNew.txt#l65|title=SDL 2.0.4 Changelog|first=Sam|last=Lantinga|date=2 January 2016|access-date=6 January 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094856/https://hg.libsdl.org/SDL/file/release-2.0.4/WhatsNew.txt#l65|url-status=dead}} Version 2.0.4 also provided better support for Android.{{Cite web|url=https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL_SysWMinfo|title = SDL_SysWMinfo}}

In 2024, the stable preview of SDL 3.1.3 was released (and in January 2025 3.2.0 was released as stable). It makes the API more consistent and allows access to more parts of the device, along with other features.{{cite web |title=SDL 3.1.3 Stable ABI Preview Release |url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/SDL-3.1.3-Released |website=Phoronix |access-date=13 November 2024}}

SDL is a wrapper around the operating-system-specific functions that the game needs to access. The only purpose of SDL is to provide a common framework for accessing these functions for multiple operating systems (cross-platform).{{cite web |url=https://wiki.libsdl.org/Introduction |title=Introduction to SDL|access-date=3 March 2014}} SDL provides support for 2D pixel operations, sound, file access, event handling, timing and threading. It is often used to complement OpenGL by setting up the graphical output and providing mouse and keyboard input, since OpenGL comprises only rendering.

A game using the Simple DirectMedia Layer will not automatically run on every operating system; further adaptations must be applied. These are reduced to a minimum, since SDL also contains a few abstraction APIs for frequent functions offered by an operating system.

The syntax of SDL is function-based: all operations done in SDL are done by passing parameters to subroutines (functions). Special structures are also used to store the specific information SDL needs to handle. SDL functions are categorized under several different subsystems.

SDL is divided into several subsystems:{{Cite web|url=https://wiki.libsdl.org/APIByCategory|title = APIByCategory}}

; Basics: Initialization and Shutdown, Configuration Variables, Error Handling, Log Handling

; Video: Display and Window Management, surface functions, rendering acceleration, etc.

; Input Events: Event handling, Support for Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick and Game controller

; Force Feedback: SDL_haptic.h implements support for "Force Feedback"

; Audio: SDL_audio.h implements Audio Device Management, Playing and Recording

; Threads: multi-threading: Thread Management, Thread Synchronization Primitives, Atomic Operations

; Timers: Timer Support

; File Abstraction: Filesystem Paths, File I/O Abstraction

; Shared Object Support: Shared Object Loading and Function Lookup

; Platform and CPU Information: Platform Detection, CPU Feature Detection, Byte Order and Byte Swapping, Bit Manipulation

; Power Management: Power Management Status

; Additional: Platform-specific functionality

Besides this basic, low-level support, there also are a few separate official libraries that provide some more functions. These comprise the "standard library", and are provided on the official website and included in the official documentation:

• SDL_image — support for multiple image formats{{cite web |url=https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/ |title=SDL_image 2.0 |website=libsdl.org |access-date=19 July 2014}}
• SDL_mixer — complex audio functions, mainly for sound mixing{{cite web |url=https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_mixer/ |title=SDL_mixer 2.0 |website=libsdl.org |access-date=19 July 2014}}
• SDL_net — networking support{{cite web |url=https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_net/ |title=SDL_net 2.0 |website=libsdl.org |access-date=19 July 2014}}
• SDL_ttf — TrueType font rendering support{{cite web |url=https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_ttf/ |title=SDL_ttf 2.0 |website=libsdl.org |access-date=19 July 2014}}
• SDL_rtf — simple Rich Text Format rendering{{cite web |url=https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_rtf/ |title=SDL_rtf 0.1 |website=libsdl.org |access-date=19 July 2014}}

Other, non-standard libraries also exist. For example: SDL_Collide on SourceForge created by Amir Taaki.

The SDL 2.0 library has language bindings for:

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Ada
• Beef
• C
• C++
• C#
• Common Lisp{{cite web|url=https://github.com/lispgames/cl-sdl2|title=cl-sdl2|publisher=GitHub|access-date=23 November 2017}}
• D
• Erlang
• Fortran{{cite web|publisher=GitHub|url=https://github.com/interkosmos/f03sdl2|title=f03sdl2|access-date=2019-10-28}}
• Gambas{{cite web|publisher=Gambas Wiki|url=https://gambaswiki.org/wiki/comp/gb.sdl2|title=gb.sdl2|access-date=2023-02-02}}
• Go{{cite web|url=https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2015/11/05/go-julia-fourier-open-source-frequon-invaders|title=Go + Julia + Fourier = Open Source Frequon Invaders|first=Arch D. |last=Robison|date= November 9, 2015|website=software.intel.com|language=en|access-date=2019-08-02}}
• Haskell{{cite web|url=https://hackage.haskell.org/package/SDL|title=SDL on Hackage}}{{cite web|url=https://hackage.haskell.org/package/sdl2|title=SDL2 on Hackage}}
• Java (e.g. JSDL)
• Julia{{cite web|last=Bieler|first=Jonathan|title=jonathanBieler/SimpleDirectMediaLayer.jl|website=GitHub|date=2020-07-30|url=https://github.com/jonathanBieler/SimpleDirectMediaLayer.jl|access-date=2020-08-08}}{{cite web|last=SquidSinker|title=Example games for GameZero.jl|website=GitHub|date=2020-08-02|url=https://github.com/SquidSinker/GZExamples|access-date=2020-08-08}}{{cite web |last=Daly|first=Nathan|title=Example game written in julia using SDL2|website=GitHub|date=2019-07-31|url=https://github.com/NHDaly/PaddleBattle.jl|access-date=2019-08-02}}
• Lua
• Nim{{cite web|url=https://github.com/nim-lang/sdl2|title=SDL2 for Nim|publisher=GitHub|access-date=31 May 2022}}
• OCaml
• Odin{{cite web|url=https://pkg.odin-lang.org/vendor/sdl2/|title=Odin Vendor Library Collection}}{{cite web|url=https://github.com/odin-lang/Odin/tree/master/vendor#sdl2|title=Odin GitHub repository|website=GitHub }}
• Pascal
• Perl (via SDL){{cite web|url=https://github.com/PerlGameDev/SDL|title=PerlGameDev/SDL|publisher=GitHub|access-date=20 February 2019}}
• PHP{{cite web|url=https://github.com/Ponup/php-sdl|title=PHP-SDL|publisher=GitHub|access-date=2019-10-28}}
• Python (several, e.g. pygame_sdl2 and sdl2hl)
• Raku{{cite web|url=https://modules.raku.org/dist/SDL2::Raw:cpan:TIMOTIMO)|title=SDL2::Raw|publisher=modules.raku.org|access-date=15 May 2020}}
• Ring{{Cite book|url=https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484258323|title=Beginning Ring Programming - From Novice to Professional {{!}} Mansour Ayouni {{!}} Apress|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://ring-lang.github.io/doc1.16/libsdl.html|title = Using RingLibSDL — Ring 1.16 documentation}}
• Rust
• Vala

{{div col end}}

File:SDL Layers.svg

Because of the way SDL is designed, much of its source code is split into separate modules for each operating system, to make calls to the underlying system. When SDL is compiled, the appropriate modules are selected for the target system. The following back-ends are available:

• GDI back-end for Microsoft Windows.
• DirectX back-end; older SDL 1.2 uses DirectX 7 by default, while 2.0 defaults to DirectX 9 and can access up to DirectX 12.
• Quartz back-end for macOS (dropped in 2.0).
• Metal back-end for macOS / iOS / tvOS since 2.0.8; older versions use OpenGL by default.{{cite web|url=https://www.libsdl.org/tmp/SDL/WhatsNew.txt|access-date=28 September 2020|title=WhatsNew.txt|archive-date=11 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111232012/https://www.libsdl.org/tmp/SDL/WhatsNew.txt|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://lists.libsdl.org/pipermail/commits-libsdl.org/2017-December/002441.html|date=7 December 2017|title=[Commits] SDL: Enable building the Metal renderer by default, and weak lin...}}
• Xlib back-end for X11-based windowing system on various operating systems.{{cite web |url=http://hg.libsdl.org/SDL/file/default/README-platforms.txt |title=SDL: README-platforms.txt@3e2f230a6d62 |website=Hg.libsdl.org |publisher=libsdl.org |access-date=2013-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215031050/http://hg.libsdl.org/SDL/file/default/README-platforms.txt |archive-date=2013-12-15}}
• OpenGL contexts on various platforms.{{cite web |url=https://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL-1.2.15/docs/html/guidevideoopengl.html |title=Using OpenGL With SDL |access-date=2015-07-09 }}
• EGL back-end when used in conjunction with Wayland-based windowing system.,{{cite web |url=https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wayland#SDL |title=SDL and Wayland}} Raspberry Pi{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQ3MzA|title= Raspberry Pi Support Added To SDL2 Library|first= Michael|last= Larabel|date= 30 September 2013}} and other systems.
• Vulkan contexts on platforms that support it.
• sceGu back-end, a Sony OpenGL-like backend native to the PSP.

An unofficial Sixel back-end is available for SDL 1.2.{{cite web |url=https://github.com/saitoha/libsixel/tree/v1.6.1#sdl-integration-gaming-virtualization-etc |title=SDL 1.2 Sixel |website=GitHub |access-date=2016-04-09}}

The Rockbox MP3 player firmware also distributes a version of SDL 1.2, which is used to run games such as Quake.{{cite web |url=https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SdlPluginPort |title=SDLPluginPort |access-date=2019-08-11}}

File:SDL-Workshop-IMG 2612.jpg (2010)]]

Over the years SDL was used for many commercial and non-commercial video game projects. For instance, MobyGames listed 120 games using SDL in 2013,{{cite web|url=http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/middleware-sdl/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130208120319/http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/middleware-sdl/|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 February 2013|title=Middleware: SDL Group Description|quote=Games that use the very portable Simple DirectMedia Layer.|date=27 September 2013|access-date=18 May 2012|publisher=MobyGames}} and the SDL website itself listed around 700 games in 2012.{{cite web |url=https://www.libsdl.org/games.php?order=name&category=-1&completed=0&os=-1&match_name=&perpage=-1 |title=Games |date=18 May 2012 |access-date=18 May 2012 |publisher=libsdl.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629004347/http://www.libsdl.org/games.php?order=name&category=-1&completed=0&os=-1&match_name=&perpage=-1 |archive-date=29 June 2010 |df=dmy-all }} Important commercial examples are Angry Birds,{{cite web|url=http://www.galaxygameworks.com/testimonials.html |title=SDL Testimonials |publisher=Galaxygameworks.com |access-date=1 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716163841/http://www.galaxygameworks.com/testimonials.html |archive-date=16 July 2011}} Unreal Tournament, and games developed using Valve's Source Engine, which uses SDL extensively for cross-platform compatibility; ones from the open-source domain are OpenTTD,{{cite web |url=http://www.openttd.org/en/development |title=Development |publisher=OpenTTD |access-date=19 March 2010 |archive-date=10 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710225239/http://www.openttd.org/en/development |url-status=dead }} The Battle for Wesnoth{{cite web |url=http://wesnoth.org/wiki/CompilingWesnoth#Prerequisites |title=CompilingWesnoth |publisher=Wesnoth |date=27 February 2010 |access-date=19 March 2010 |archive-date=6 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406100401/http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/CompilingWesnoth#Prerequisites |url-status=dead }} or Freeciv.{{cite web|url=http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/SDLClient |title=SDLClient - Freeciv.org |publisher=Freeciv.wikia.com |access-date=19 March 2010}}

The cross-platform game releases of the popular Humble Indie Bundles for Linux, Mac and Android are often SDL-based.

SDL is also often used for later ports on new platforms with legacy code. For instance, the PC game Homeworld was ported to the Pandora handheld{{cite web|url=https://pandorapress.net/2011/06/23/game-of-the-week-3-homeworld-sdl/|title=Game of the Week #3 – Homeworld SDL |date=23 June 2011 |publisher=pandorapress.net |access-date=8 May 2012 |author=((may88)) |quote=[...] released port of HomeworldSDL. Forum member Edglex enables your Pandora to experience the excellent work done by the guys at HomeworldSDL.}} and Jagged Alliance 2 for Android[https://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=273148&page=1 JA2 Stracciatella Feedback » Jagged Alliance 2 Android Stracciatella Port RC2 Release - please test] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023085701/http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=273148&page=1|date=23 October 2012}} on the Bear's Pit Forum, 3 October 2011 via SDL.

Also, several non video game programs use SDL; examples are the emulators, such as DOSBox, FUSE ZX Spectrum emulator and VisualBoyAdvance.

There were several books written for development with SDL (see further reading).

SDL is used in university courses teaching multimedia and computer science, for instance, in a workshop about game programming using libSDL at the University of Cadiz in 2010, or a Game Design discipline at UTFPR (Ponta Grossa campus) in 2015.

File:Unknown horizons 3176.PNG|Unknown Horizons{{cite web|url=https://github.com/fifengine/fifengine/wiki/Features|title=Features · fifengine/fifengine Wiki · GitHub|website=GitHub|access-date=9 March 2015}}

File:Hwscreen.png|Hedgewars{{cite web|url=https://www.hedgewars.org/faq.html|title=FAQ Hedgewars|website=hedgewars.org|access-date=3 October 2014|quote=...SDL >= 1.2.5...}}

File:Scorched 3D 39.1 screenshot 3.jpg|Scorched 3D{{cite web|url=http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Development_Details|title=Development Details|website=scorched3d.co.uk|access-date=3 October 2014|quote=...Simple DirectMedia Layer - SDL for cross platform game windowing...|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006090704/http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Development_Details|archive-date=6 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}

File:Fretsonfirex1.jpg|Frets on Fire{{cite web|url=https://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/about/|title=About the game|access-date=20 September 2021}}

File:OOlite Mac OS X screenshot.jpg|Oolite{{cite web|url=https://github.com/OoliteProject/oolite-sdl-dependencies|title=OOlite SDL Dependencies|website=GitHub|date=29 May 2016|access-date=21 September 2021}}

File:Wesnoth-1.6-5.jpg|The Battle for Wesnoth{{cite web|url=https://wiki.wesnoth.org/Roadmap|title=Roadmap - Wesnoth|website=www.wesnoth.org|access-date=9 March 2015|archive-date=6 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150306190650/http://wiki.wesnoth.org/Roadmap|url-status=dead}}

File:OpenTTD-1.3.3-en.png|OpenTTD

File:0 A.D. alpha 25 - playing as Spartans.jpg|0 A.D.{{cite web|url=https://play0ad.com/new-release-0-a-d-alpha-19-syllepsis/|title=New Release: 0 A.D. Alpha 19 Syllepsis|date=November 26, 2015|access-date=20 September 2021|quote=Linux users, please be advised that SDL2 is now enabled by default on Linux.}}

File:SMC15PromoShot.png|Secret Maryo Chronicles{{cite web|url=https://sourceforge.net/projects/smclone/|title=Secret Maryo Chronicles|website=sourceforge.net|date=28 August 2014 |access-date=3 October 2014|quote=... based on SDL ...}}

File:Trine - Wizard Knight Caverns.jpg|Trine

File:Trine 2 - Deadly Dustland Three Heroes.jpg|Trine 2{{Cite web|title=Frozenbyte Support|url=https://trine2.com/help/faq/|access-date=2020-09-01|website=trine2.com}}

File:Teeworlds.png|Teeworlds{{cite web | url=https://www.teeworlds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12540 | title=[HowTo] Compile 0.7 on windows (Page 1) — Development — Teeworlds Forum }}

{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}

{{div col |colwidth=15em|content=

• Allegro
• ClanLib
• Cross-platform support middleware
• DirectFB
• General Graphics Interface
• GLFW
• OpenML
• Pygame
• Raylib
• Ren'Py
• SFML
• SVGAlib

}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Alberto García Serrano: Programación de videojuegos en SDL, Ediversitas, {{ISBN|84-95836-08-4}} (Spanish)
• Ernest Pazera: Focus On SDL, Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade, {{ISBN|1-59200-030-4}}
• Ron Penton: Data Structures for Game Programmers, Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade, {{ISBN|1-931841-94-2}} (game programming examples with SDL)
• John R. Hall: Programming Linux Games, No Starch, {{ISBN|1-886411-49-2}} (First SDL book, by Loki Games, archived online version: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030122200047/http://www.overcode.net/~overcode/writing/plg/local/release/plg-final-pdf-no-really-i-mean-it-this-time.pdf |date=22 January 2003 |title=PDF }}, {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030214004255/http://www.overcode.net/~overcode/writing/plg/local/ |date=14 February 2003 |title=LaTex sources }})

• {{official website}}

Category:Application programming interfaces

Category:Audio libraries

Category:C (programming language) libraries

Category:Cross-platform software

Category:Graphics libraries

Category:Linux APIs

Category:MacOS APIs

Category:Software using the zlib license

Category:Video game development

Category:Video game development software for Linux

Category:Windows APIs