OpenAL: Difference between revisions

'''OpenAL''' ('''Open Audio Library''') is a [[cross-platform]] audio [[application programming interface]] (API). It is designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three-dimensional positional audio. Its API style and conventions deliberately resemble those of [[OpenGL]]. OpenAL is an environmental [[3D audio effect|3D audio]] library, which can add realism to a game by simulating [[Acoustic attenuation|attenuation]] (degradation of sound over distance), the [[Doppler effect]] (change in frequency as a result of motion), and material densities. OpenAL aimed to originally be an [[open standard]] and [[open-source software|open-source]] replacement for [[proprietary software|proprietary]] (and generally incompatible with one another) 3D audio APIs such as [[DirectSound]] and [[Core Audio]], though in practice has largely been implemented on various platforms as a [[Wrapper library|wrapper]] around said proprietary APIs or as a proprietary and vendor-specific fork. While the [[reference implementation]] later became proprietary, there are open source implementations such as [[#Implementations|OpenAL Soft]] available.

 

OpenAL was originally developed in 2000 by [[Loki Software]] to help them in their business of [[porting]] [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] games to [[Linux]].<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://linux.omnipotent.net/article.php?article_id=7626 |title=Press release with regards to OpenAL}}</ref> After the demise of Loki, the project was maintained for a time by the [[free software community|free software]]/[[open source community]], and implemented on [[NVIDIA]] nForce sound cards and motherboards. It is now hosted (and largely developed) by [[Creative Technology]] with on-going support from [[Apple Computer|Apple]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://opensource.apple.com/tarballs/OpenAL/|title=Source Browser}}</ref> Blue Ripple Sound via their Rapture3D OpenAL Driver,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.blueripplesound.com/gaming|title = Gaming and VR}}</ref> and individual open-source developers.