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

Initialize the video subsystem, optionally specifying a video driver.

## Header File

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

## Syntax

```c
int SDL_VideoInit(const char *driver_name);
```

## Function Parameters

|              |                 |                                                                           |
| ------------ | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| const char * | **driver_name** | the name of a video driver to initialize, or NULL for the default driver. |

## Return Value

(int) Returns 0 on success or a negative error code on failure; call
[SDL_GetError](SDL_GetError)() for more information.

## Remarks

This function initializes the video subsystem, setting up a connection to
the window manager, etc, and determines the available display modes and
pixel formats, but does not initialize a window or graphics mode.

If you use this function and you haven't used the
[SDL_INIT_VIDEO](SDL_INIT_VIDEO) flag with either [SDL_Init](SDL_Init)() or
[SDL_InitSubSystem](SDL_InitSubSystem)(), you should call
[SDL_VideoQuit](SDL_VideoQuit)() before calling [SDL_Quit](SDL_Quit)().

It is safe to call this function multiple times.
[SDL_VideoInit](SDL_VideoInit)() will call [SDL_VideoQuit](SDL_VideoQuit)()
itself if the video subsystem has already been initialized.

You can use [SDL_GetNumVideoDrivers](SDL_GetNumVideoDrivers)() and
[SDL_GetVideoDriver](SDL_GetVideoDriver)() to find a specific
`driver_name`.

## Version

This function is available since SDL 2.0.0.

## See Also

- [SDL_GetNumVideoDrivers](SDL_GetNumVideoDrivers)
- [SDL_GetVideoDriver](SDL_GetVideoDriver)
- [SDL_InitSubSystem](SDL_InitSubSystem)
- [SDL_VideoQuit](SDL_VideoQuit)

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