DirectXs

DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) developed by Microsoft for handling multimedia tasks, especially game and multimedia software on Windows and Xbox platforms. Since its introduction in 1995, DirectX has evolved through many versions, with DirectX 12 and DirectX 12 Ultimate providing low-level access to hardware, better multi-core CPU utilization, and advanced rendering features.

The API suite includes Direct3D for 3D graphics, Direct2D and DirectWrite for 2D graphics and text, DXGI (DirectX Graphics Infrastructure) for device management and swap chains, and DirectCompute for general-purpose GPU computing. For audio, XAudio2 is widely used, while input devices are supported by XInput; DirectInput is considered legacy. The set also covers media processing and shader functionality that enable high-fidelity visuals.

DirectX runs as a runtime on Windows and is also used on the Xbox consoles, offering a largely common API surface across devices to facilitate cross-platform development within the Microsoft ecosystem. Recent developments emphasize features for real-time ray tracing via DirectX Raytracing (DXR), Variable Rate Shading, mesh shading, and other hardware-accelerated techniques, as part of DirectX 12 Ultimate.

The term DirectXs is not an official product name; it is usually a misspelling or informal plural of DirectX. The correct term for the API family is DirectX.