Graphics and gaming

Windows provides APIs and components that support graphics, gaming, and imaging.

In this section

Topic Description
DirectX Graphics and Gaming DirectX graphics provides a set of APIs that you can use to create games and other high-performance multimedia applications.
DirectComposition DirectComposition enables high-performance bitmap composition with transforms, effects, and animations. You can use the DirectComposition API to create visually engaging user interfaces that feature rich and fluid animated transitions from one visual to another.
Composition swapchain This API is the initial public release of the composition swapchain API. It allows applications using Composition APIs (such as Windows.UI.Composition and DirectComposition) to host content that can be independently rendered and presented to.
Game Mode The Game Mode APIs for the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) allow you to produce the most optimized gaming experience by taking advantage of Game Mode in Windows 10.
Gaming Device Information The Gaming Device Information APIs allow UWP game developers to determine the type of console the game is running on, in order to make run-time choices on how to best use the hardware.
Windows Imaging Component (WIC) The Windows Imaging Component (WIC) is an extensible platform that provides low-level API for digital images. WIC supports the standard web image formats, high dynamic range images, and raw camera data.
Win2D (External Site) Win2D is an easy-to-use Windows Runtime API for immediate mode 2D graphics rendering with GPU acceleration. It is available to C# and C++ developers writing Windows apps for Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10. It utilizes the power of Direct2D, and integrates seamlessly with XAML and CoreWindow.
ANGLE for Windows Store (External Site) ANGLE for Windows Store is an open-source project that allows developers to run OpenGL ES content on Windows by translating OpenGL ES API calls to DirectX 11 API calls. ANGLE for Windows Store supports Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8.1, and Windows 10.

Note

As of Windows 10, version 1809 (10.0; Build 17763), TruePlay is removed from Windows. TruePlay documentation is not published.