DirectX
First released as DirectX 1.0 (4.02.0095) on September 30, 1995, DirectX is a set of APIs developed by Microsoft for allowing instructions to communicate with audio and video hardware. Games that include DirectX have the capability of utilizing multimedia and graphics accelerator features more efficiently and improve the overall multimedia performance.
Latest DirectX versions
Early versions of Microsoft Windows (XP and earlier) had multiple versions of DirectX that had to be installed separately. Later versions of Windows included DirectX with some having the ability to upgrade. Below are the latest versions of DirectX for the different versions of Windows.
Windows 10 = DirectX 12.
Windows Vista 7, and 8 = Up to DirectX 11 (Vista released with DirectX 10).
Other Windows latest version = Up to DirectX 9.0c depending on Windows version.
The original releases of Windows 95 did not ship with DirectX but was included with Windows 95 OSR2 that had DirectX 2.0. Windows NT shipped with DirectX 2.0. Upgrading to Service Pack 3 or higher installs DirectX 3.0. However, there are no higher versions of DirectX available for Windows NT. However, installing Service Pack 4 or higher will install later versions of DirectPlay.
DirectX versions
DirectX is included with different releases of programs, drivers, and games. Below is a listing of each of the DirectX versions and their associated versions.
| Version Number | DirectX Version |
|---|---|
| 4.02.0095 | DirectX 1.0 |
| 4.03.00.1096 | DirectX 2.0 and 2.0a |
| 4.04.0068/69 | DirectX 3.0 and 3.0a |
| Never Released | DirectX 4.0 |
| 4.05.00.0155 | DirectX 5.0 |
| 4.05.01.1721/1998 | DirectX 5.0 (released with Windows 98). |
| 4.06.02.0436 | DirectX 6.0 |
| 4.07.00.0700 | DirectX 7.0 |
| 4.07.00.0716 | DirectX 7.0a |
| 4.08.00.0400 | DirectX 8.0 |
| 4.08.01.0810 4.08.01.0881 |
DirectX 8.1 |
| 4.09.0000.0900 | DirectX 9.0 |
| 4.09.0000.0901 | DirectX 9.0a |
| 4.09.0000.0902 | DirectX 9.0b |
| 4.09.0000.0904 | DirectX 9.0c |
| 6.00.6000.16386 | DirectX 10 (released with Windows Vista). |
| 6.00.6001.18000 | Direct X 10.1 included with Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008. |
| 6.00.6001.18005 | Direct X 10.1 included with Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2. |
| 6.01.7600.16385 | Direct X 11 included with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. |
| 6.00.6002.18107 | Direct X 11 included with Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2. |
| 6.01.7601.17514 | Direct X 11 included with Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. |
| 6.02.9200.16384 | Direct X 11.1 included with Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Server 2012. |
| 6.03.9600.16384 | Direct X 11.2 included with Windows 8.1, Windows RT, and Windows Server 2012 R2. |
| 10.00.10240.16384 | Direct X 12 included with Windows 10 and on the Xbox One. |