###### (This is the legacy documentation for SDL2, the previous stable version; [SDL3](https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL3/) is the current stable version.)
# SDL_AllocFormat

Create an [SDL_PixelFormat](SDL_PixelFormat) structure corresponding to a pixel format.

## Header File

Defined in [SDL_pixels.h](https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/blob/SDL2/include/SDL_pixels.h)

## Syntax

```c
SDL_PixelFormat * SDL_AllocFormat(Uint32 pixel_format);
```

## Function Parameters

|                  |                  |                                                               |
| ---------------- | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Uint32](Uint32) | **pixel_format** | one of the [SDL_PixelFormatEnum](SDL_PixelFormatEnum) values. |

## Return Value

([SDL_PixelFormat](SDL_PixelFormat) *) Returns the new
[SDL_PixelFormat](SDL_PixelFormat) structure or NULL on failure; call
[SDL_GetError](SDL_GetError)() for more information.

## Remarks

Returned structure may come from a shared global cache (i.e. not newly
allocated), and hence should not be modified, especially the palette. Weird
errors such as `Blit combination not supported` may occur.

## Version

This function is available since SDL 2.0.0.

## See Also

- [SDL_FreeFormat](SDL_FreeFormat)

----
[CategoryAPI](CategoryAPI), [CategoryAPIFunction](CategoryAPIFunction), [CategoryPixels](CategoryPixels)