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

Copy an existing surface to a new surface of the specified format enum.

## Header File

Defined in [SDL_surface.h](https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/blob/SDL2/include/SDL_surface.h), but apps should _only_ `#include "SDL.h"`!

## Syntax

```c
SDL_Surface* SDL_ConvertSurfaceFormat
    (SDL_Surface * src, Uint32 pixel_format, Uint32 flags);

```

## Function Parameters

|                      |                                                                                      |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **src**              | the existing [SDL_Surface](SDL_Surface) structure to convert                         |
| **pixel_format**     | the [SDL_PixelFormatEnum](SDL_PixelFormatEnum) that the new surface is optimized for |
| **flags**            | the flags are unused and should be set to 0; this is a leftover from SDL 1.2's API   |

## Return Value

Returns the new [SDL_Surface](SDL_Surface) structure that is created or
NULL if it fails; call [SDL_GetError](SDL_GetError)() for more information.

## Remarks

This function operates just like
[SDL_ConvertSurface](SDL_ConvertSurface)(), but accepts an
[SDL_PixelFormatEnum](SDL_PixelFormatEnum) value instead of an
[SDL_PixelFormat](SDL_PixelFormat) structure. As such, it might be easier
to call but it doesn't have access to palette information for the
destination surface, in case that would be important.

## Version

This function is available since SDL 2.0.0.

## See Also

* [SDL_AllocFormat](SDL_AllocFormat)
* [SDL_ConvertSurface](SDL_ConvertSurface)
* [SDL_CreateRGBSurface](SDL_CreateRGBSurface)

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