WinMM

WinMM refers to the Windows Multimedia API, a legacy set of functions provided by Windows to enable basic multimedia tasks. Implemented as the winmm.dll library, it offers a collection of services for audio input and output, MIDI I/O, joystick input, and timing utilities. The API originated in early Windows releases to give applications a simple, device-agnostic interface to multimedia hardware and has been retained for backward compatibility in modern Windows editions.

Key components of WinMM include the waveIn* and waveOut* function families for recording and playing back waveform audio, and the midiIn* and midiOut* families for MIDI devices. The timer-related functions, such as timeGetTime and timeSetEvent, provide high-resolution timing and scheduled callbacks. The PlaySound function offers a convenient, high-level way to play waveform data or audio files. Devices are represented by handles (for example HWAVEIN, HWAVEOUT, HMIDIIN, HMIDIOUT), and asynchronous operations can be coordinated through callbacks or window messages.

Development and deployment details: WinMM is typically linked with winmm.lib and loaded from winmm.dll at runtime. It is designed to be straightforward and widely available across Windows versions, making it useful for simple audio tasks, basic device I/O, and basic timing services in applications with limited multimedia needs.

Lifecycle and alternatives: While WinMM remains present for compatibility, many applications gravitate to more modern APIs for new development. For audio, WASAPI, DirectSound, or XAudio2 are commonly used; for MIDI and input, newer interfaces offer more features and better performance. WinMM continues to serve legacy software and scenarios where a lightweight, simple multimedia API suffices.