###### (This is the documentation for SDL3, which is under heavy development and the API is changing! [SDL2](https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL2/) is the current stable version!) # SDL_CreateSurfaceFrom Allocate a new surface with a specific pixel format and existing pixel data. ## Header File Defined in [](https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/blob/main/include/SDL3/SDL_surface.h) ## Syntax ```c SDL_Surface * SDL_CreateSurfaceFrom(int width, int height, SDL_PixelFormat format, void *pixels, int pitch); ``` ## Function Parameters | | | | | ---------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | int | **width** | the width of the surface. | | int | **height** | the height of the surface. | | [SDL_PixelFormat](SDL_PixelFormat) | **format** | the [SDL_PixelFormat](SDL_PixelFormat) for the new surface's pixel format. | | void * | **pixels** | a pointer to existing pixel data. | | int | **pitch** | the number of bytes between each row, including padding. | ## Return Value ([SDL_Surface](SDL_Surface) *) Returns the new [SDL_Surface](SDL_Surface) structure that is created or NULL on failure; call [SDL_GetError](SDL_GetError)() for more information. ## Remarks No copy is made of the pixel data. Pixel data is not managed automatically; you must free the surface before you free the pixel data. Pitch is the offset in bytes from one row of pixels to the next, e.g. `width*4` for [`SDL_PIXELFORMAT_RGBA8888`](SDL_PIXELFORMAT_RGBA8888). You may pass NULL for pixels and 0 for pitch to create a surface that you will fill in with valid values later. ## Version This function is available since SDL 3.0.0. ## See Also - [SDL_CreateSurface](SDL_CreateSurface) - [SDL_DestroySurface](SDL_DestroySurface) ---- [CategoryAPI](CategoryAPI), [CategoryAPIFunction](CategoryAPIFunction), [CategorySurface](CategorySurface)