XAudio

XAudio is a family of low-level audio APIs developed by Microsoft for Windows and Xbox platforms. The term commonly refers to the original XAudio API (often called XAudio 1.0), which formed part of the legacy DirectX audio stack. XAudio 1 provided developers with a lightweight interface to create and mix multiple audio voices, perform basic digital signal processing, and offer simple support for three-dimensional sound through the X3DAudio library. It was widely used in early DirectX-era games and on Xbox consoles but is now considered legacy.

A successor, XAudio2, was introduced to replace XAudio 1 as part of the DirectX runtime. XAudio2 features a more scalable, graph-based audio rendering pipeline designed for modern hardware. It exposes mastering voices, submix voices, and multiple active voices, and supports real-time DSP via audio processing objects. It also includes built-in support for 3D audio and spatialization via X3DAudio. XAudio2 is the recommended API for new development on Windows and Xbox, offering improved performance, lower latency, and better feature parity with contemporary game audio requirements.

Platform scope and status: XAudio and XAudio2 are part of the DirectX ecosystem. XAudio2 is cross-platform across Windows and Xbox, whereas XAudio 1.x is largely deprecated but retained for compatibility with older titles. Development is typically in C/C++ using DirectX SDK components.