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This article provides an index of development features that are related to scenarios involving graphics in Windows apps.
Win2D
Win2D is an easy-to-use Windows Runtime API for immediate mode 2D graphics rendering with GPU acceleration.
Windows App SDK features
The Windows App SDK provides the following features related to graphics scenarios for Windows 10 and later OS releases.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Render text with DWriteCore | Use the C++/COM APIs in the DWriteCore headers of the Windows App SDK to render text using a device-independent text layout system, high quality sub-pixel Microsoft ClearType text rendering, hardware-accelerated text, multi-format text, wide language support, and much more. |
Windows OS features
Windows 10 and later OS releases provide a wide variety of APIs related to graphics scenarios for apps. These features are available via a combination of WinRT and Win32 (C++ and COM) APIs provided by the Windows SDK.
WinRT APIs
The following articles provide information about features available via WinRT APIs provided by the Windows SDK.
| Article | Description |
|---|---|
| Visual layer | Learn how to use the Visual layer in WinUI and Windows App SDK apps. The Visual layer provides a high performance, retained-mode API for graphics, effects and animations, and is the foundation for all WinRT XAML-based UI in Windows apps. |
| Using the Visual layer in desktop apps | Learn how to use the visual layer in WPF, Windows Forms, and C++ Win32 apps. |
| Screen capture | Use the Windows.Graphics.Capture APIs to acquire frames from a display or application window, to create video streams or snapshots for collaborative and interactive experiences. |
| XAML platform | Learn the fundamentals of the XAML language and concepts for WinRT-based graphic components Windows apps. |
Win32 (C++ and COM) APIs
The following articles provide information about features available via Win32 (C++ and COM) APIs provided by the Windows SDK.
| Article | Description |
|---|---|
| Graphics and gaming | Learn about the breadth of Win32 APIs related to graphics, gaming, and imaging. |
| DirectX | DirectX graphics provides a set of APIs that you can use to create games and other high-performance multimedia apps. |
| Direct3D 12 | Direct3D 12 is the current generation graphics API for high-performance game and real-time 3-D rendering. It provides lower-level hardware access and reduced driver overhead compared to Direct3D 11. |
| Direct3D 11 | Direct3D 11 is the previous generation 3-D graphics API. Consider Direct3D 12 for new projects requiring maximum GPU performance. |
| Direct2D | Direct2D is a hardware-accelerated, immediate-mode, 2-D graphics API that provides high performance and high-quality rendering for 2-D geometry, bitmaps, and text. |
| DirectWrite | DirectWrite supports high-quality text rendering, resolution-independent outline fonts, and full Unicode text and layouts. |
| DirectXMath | DirectXMath provides an optimal math library for types and functions common to graphics programs that require high performance on Windows. |
| DXGI | Microsoft DirectX Graphics Infrastructure (DXGI) handles enumerating display adapters and monitors, managing swap chains for rendering, and associating drawing surfaces with windows. |
| Windows Imaging Component (WIC) | WIC provides an extensible framework for working with images and image metadata. It supports the BMP, GIF, ICO, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and DDS formats. |
| Windows GDI | The graphics device interface (GDI) is a foundational API that enables apps to use graphics and formatted text on both the video display and the printer. |
.NET features
The .NET SDK also provides APIs related to graphics scenarios for WPF and Windows Forms apps.
| Article | Description |
|---|---|
| Graphics (WPF) | Learn about ways to integrate support for multimedia, vector graphics, animation, and content composition in WPF apps. |
| Graphics and drawing (Windows Forms) | Learn about ways to create graphics, draw text, and manipulate graphical images in Windows Forms apps. |
Game development
For full-featured game development on Windows, use the Microsoft Game Development Kit (GDK), which provides APIs for Xbox Live services, game packaging, and deployment to both PC and Xbox.
For game-specific graphics programming, Direct3D 12 is the recommended API. It provides explicit control over GPU resources, multi-threaded command submission, and the lowest-overhead access to modern GPU hardware.
See also
- DirectX Graphics Samples on GitHub — Official Direct3D 12 and DirectX sample code
- DWriteCore (Windows App SDK) — The Windows App SDK implementation of DirectWrite
- Screen capture — Capture frames from a display or application window using Windows.Graphics.Capture
- DirectX tool kit for Direct3D 12 — Helper library for Direct3D 12 game development
- PIX on Windows — Performance tuning and debugging tool for DirectX 12
- XInput (game controller input) — API for Xbox controller input in Windows games
- ONNX Runtime — Run machine-learning models on-device for game AI and real-time inference
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