(This is the documentation for SDL3, which is under heavy development and the API is changing! SDL2 is the current stable version!)

SDL_ReleaseCameraFrame

Release a frame of video acquired from a camera.

Header File

Syntax

int SDL_ReleaseCameraFrame(SDL_Camera *camera, SDL_Surface *frame);

Function Parameters

camera	opened camera device
frame	The video frame surface to release.

Return Value

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

Remarks

Let the back-end re-use the internal buffer for camera.

This function must be called only on surface objects returned by SDL_AcquireCameraFrame(). This function should be called as quickly as possible after acquisition, as SDL keeps a small FIFO queue of surfaces for video frames; if surfaces aren't released in a timely manner, SDL may drop upcoming video frames from the camera.

If the app needs to keep the surface for a significant time, they should make a copy of it and release the original.

The app should not use the surface again after calling this function; assume the surface is freed and the pointer is invalid.

Thread Safety

It is safe to call this function from any thread.

Version

This function is available since SDL 3.0.0.