SDL_AudioSpec(3)

💖 SDL_AudioSpec — the audio spec struct, bestie 💖

okay so this is SDL_AudioSpec, straight out of the SDL API Reference, and it's literally the blueprint for how your audio data is shaped. it's giving "audio DNA". no cap. 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

SDL_AudioSpec — the Audio Specification Structure, aka the lil struct that tells everyone what your sound actually is ✨

🦋 STRUCTURE DEFINITION 🦋

here's the whole thing, character for character, don't touch a single semicolon:

typedef struct{
  int freq;
  Uint16 format;
  Uint8 channels;
  Uint8 silence;
  Uint16 samples;
  Uint32 size;
  void (*callback)(void *userdata, Uint8 *stream, int len);
  void *userdata;
} SDL_AudioSpec;

💅 STRUCTURE DATA 💅

every field, one by one, we're going through them all because we're thorough queens 👑

• freq — audio frequency, in samples per second 🎵
• format — the audio data format
• channels — how many channels: 1 is mono, 2 is stereo
• silence — the audio buffer silence value (this one gets calculated for you, don't stress)
• samples — audio buffer size, measured in samples
• size — audio buffer size in bytes (also calculated, also not your problem 💖)
• callback(..) — the callback function that fills the audio buffer
• userdata — a pointer to the user data that gets passed to that callback function 🫶

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so the SDL_AudioSpec structure is what you use to describe the format of some audio data. it's used by SDL_OpenAudio and SDL_LoadWAV. here's the tea tho: all the fields get used by SDL_OpenAudio, but only freq, format, samples and channels get used by SDL_LoadWAV. we're gonna detail those common members right here, no gatekeeping 🌈

• freq — the number of samples sent to the sound device every second. common values are 11025, 22050 and 44100. the higher the better, periodt 🔥
• format — specifies the size and type of each sample element. the options are:
  • AUDIO_U8
  • AUDIO_S8
  • AUDIO_U16 or AUDIO_U16LSB
  • AUDIO_S16 or AUDIO_S16LSB
  • AUDIO_U16MSB
  • AUDIO_S16MSB
  • AUDIO_U16SYS
  • AUDIO_S16SYS
• channels — the number of seperate sound channels (yes, that's how it's spelled in the source, we keep it 100). 1 is mono (single channel), 2 is stereo (dual channel) 🎧
• samples — when you use this with SDL_OpenAudio, this refers to the size of the audio buffer in samples. a sample is a chunk of audio data of the size specified in format, mulitplied by the number of channels (again: that's the original spelling, we do not edit the ancestors 💀). but when the SDL_AudioSpec is used with SDL_LoadWAV, samples gets set to 4096. iconic behavior honestly

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

SDL_OpenAudio, SDL_LoadWAV

go read those too, iykyk 💜

ok bestie that's the whole page, every flag and field accounted for, nothing skipped, we ate and left no crumbs 🍓

mwah 💋 this was SDL_AudioSpec(3) from the SDL API Reference — written by the SDL girlies, dated Tue 11 Sep 2001, 22:58. yeah, 2001. vintage. still slaps. bye pookie 🧚✨