SDL_HINT_WAVE_FACT_CHUNK(3)

🌊 NAME 🌊

SDL_HINT_WAVE_FACT_CHUNK — bestie, it's a variable that decides how the fact chunk gets to mess with the way a WAVE file loads. that's it, that's the whole job 💖

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

okay so first you gotta pull in the header:

#include <SDL3/SDL_hints.h>

and here's the define that holds the hint's name string:

#define SDL_HINT_WAVE_FACT_CHUNK "SDL_WAVE_FACT_CHUNK"

no cap, that string is the exact thing you pass as the hint key. write it down 🎀

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the fact chunk is this little section inside a WAVE file that stores info about how many samples the file has. the Standards Update from Microsoft says this value can be used to 'determine the length of the data in seconds'. literally iconic for compressed formats — and for those, the fact chunk is a mandatory chunk btw — specifically when they produce multiple sample frames per block and truncating the block is not allowed. in that case the fact chunk can say exactly how many sample frames there should be. chef's kiss 💅

but here's the tragic part: most applications just... ignore the fact chunk entirely 🙈 so SDL ignores it by default too. it's giving "everyone else jumped off a bridge" energy but okay.

you can set this variable to any of these values:

• "truncate" — use the number of samples to truncate the wave data, but only if the fact chunk is present and valid.
• "strict" — same vibe as "truncate", except it will raise an error if the fact chunk is invalid, if it's not present for non-PCM formats, or if the data chunk doesn't have that many samples. zero chill, zero tolerance 🔥
• "ignorezero" — like "truncate", but ignore the fact chunk if the number of samples is zero.
• "ignore" — ignore the fact chunk entirely. this is the default, bestie. (default)

⚠️ set this hint before you call SDL_LoadWAV() or SDL_LoadWAV_IO(). if you set it after, girl, it's too late, the file already loaded 💀

---

🌸 AVAILABILITY 🌸

this hint has been around since SDL 3.2.0. so if you're on anything older, that's a no from her 🫶

---

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

no SEE ALSO refs on this one bestie, this page is a solo act 💜</purole>

---

✨ and that's the whole page, babes! straight outta the Simple Directmedia Layer, running on SDL 3.4.18, filed under SDL_HINT_WAVE_FACT_CHUNK(3). go forth and load those WAVs responsibly 🎀💖