Supported Image Formats in SDL2_image

The SDL2_image library supports loading various common image formats, including:

• PNG (.png)
• JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg)
• BMP (.bmp)
• GIF (.gif)
• TGA (.tga)
• TIFF (.tif, .tiff)
• WebP (.webp)

To load an image, you can use the IMG_Load function:

1#include <SDL.h>
2#include <SDL_image.h>
3#include <iostream>
4
5SDL_Surface* loadImage(const char* path) {
6  SDL_Surface* surface = IMG_Load(path);
7  if (surface == nullptr) {
8    std::cout << "Failed to load image:"
9      << IMG_GetError();
10  }
11  return surface;
12}
13
14int main(int argc, char** argv) {
15  return 0;
16}

Make sure to initialize the SDL2_image library before loading images:

1if (IMG_Init(IMG_INIT_PNG | IMG_INIT_JPG) == 0) {
2  std::cout << "Failed to init SDL2_image:\n"
3    << IMG_GetError();
4  // handle error
5}

The IMG_Init function takes a bitwise OR of the desired image format flags. In this example, we initialize support for PNG and JPEG images.

Remember to free the loaded surface when you're done using it:

1SDL_FreeSurface(surface);

By using SDL2_image, you can easily load and work with a variety of image formats in your SDL2 projects.