Audio, video, and camera
May 22, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
This article provides an index of development features that are related to scenarios involving audio, video, and camera in Windows apps.
Note
Many articles related to media processing and creation have been updated to support WinUI 3 apps and are now available in the Media processing and creation section. These updated articles describe the recommended practices for working with audio, video, and images in Windows desktop apps using Windows App SDK. Articles about UWP-specific and legacy media features remain in the UWP area of the documentation.
Windows OS features
Windows 10 and later OS releases provide a wide variety of APIs related to audio, video, and camera 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 |
|---|---|
| Camera | Learn about how to use the camera or microphone to capture photos, video, or audio. |
| Media playback | Learn about how to play back audio and video in your apps. |
| Visual layer | The Visual layer provides a high performance, retained-mode API for graphics, effects and animations, and is the foundation for all UI across Windows devices. |
| XAML platform | Describes the XAML language and concepts to apps that use a WinRT XAML-based UI, including XAML UI components provided by Windows 10 and later as well as WinUI. |
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 |
|---|---|
| Audio and video | Learn about features for integrating audio and video into your apps. |
| Graphics and gaming | Learn about features involving graphics, gaming, and imaging. |
| DirectX | Learn about how to use DirectX APIs to create games and other high-performance multimedia apps using 2D and 3D graphics. |
| Direct2D | Direct2D is a hardware-accelerated, immediate-mode, 2D graphics API that provides high performance and high-quality rendering for 2-D geometry, bitmaps, and text. |
| Direct3D | Direct3D is a low-level API for drawing primitives with the rendering pipeline, or for performing parallel operations with the compute shader. |
| GDI | The Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) is a low-level graphics API that enables apps to use two-dimensional vector graphics, imaging, and typography. |
| GDI+ | GDI+ improves on GDI by adding new features and by optimizing existing features. |
.NET features
The .NET SDK also provides APIs related to audio, video, and camera scenarios for WPF and Windows Forms apps.
| Article | Description |
|---|---|
| Graphics (WPF) | Learn about support for multimedia, vector graphics, animation, and content composition in WPF apps. |
| Multimedia (WPF) | Learn about integrating audio and video into your WPF apps. |
| Graphics and drawing (Windows Forms) | Learn how to create graphics, draw text, and manipulate graphical images in Windows Forms apps. |
| SoundPlayer class (Windows Forms) | Learn how to include sounds in your Windows Forms applications. |