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.TH IMG_Init 3 "SDL_image 3.0.0" "SDL_image" "SDL_image3 FUNCTIONS"
.SH NAME
IMG_Init \- Initialize SDL_image\[char46]
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include \(dqSDL3_image/SDL_image.h\(dq
.PP
.BI "int IMG_Init(int flags);
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
This function loads dynamic libraries that SDL_image needs, and prepares
them for use\[char46] This must be the first function you call in SDL_image, and if
it fails you should not continue with the library\[char46]

Flags should be one or more flags from 
.BR IMG_InitFlags
 OR'd
together\[char46] It returns the flags successfully initialized, or 0 on failure\[char46]

Currently, these flags are:


\(bu 
.BR
.BR IMG_INIT_JPG

\(bu 
.BR
.BR IMG_INIT_PNG

\(bu 
.BR
.BR IMG_INIT_TIF

\(bu 
.BR
.BR IMG_INIT_WEBP

\(bu 
.BR
.BR IMG_INIT_JXL

\(bu 
.BR
.BR IMG_INIT_AVIF
More flags may be added in a future SDL_image release\[char46]

This function may need to load external shared libraries to support various
codecs, which means this function can fail to initialize that support on an
otherwise-reasonable system if the library isn't available; this is not
just a question of exceptional circumstances like running out of memory at
startup!

Note that you may call this function more than once to initialize with
additional flags\[char46] The return value will reflect both new flags that
successfully initialized, and also include flags that had previously been
initialized as well\[char46]

As this will return previously-initialized flags, it's legal to call this
with zero (no flags set)\[char46] This is a safe no-op that can be used to query
the current initialization state without changing it at all\[char46]

Since this returns previously-initialized flags as well as new ones, and
you can call this with zero, you should not check for a zero return value
to determine an error condition\[char46] Instead, you should check to make sure all
the flags you require are set in the return value\[char46] If you have a game with
data in a specific format, this might be a fatal error\[char46] If you're a generic
image displaying app, perhaps you are fine with only having JPG and PNG
support and can live without WEBP, even if you request support for
everything\[char46]

Unlike other SDL satellite libraries, calls to 
.BR IMG_Init
 do not
stack; a single call to 
.BR IMG_Quit
() will deinitialize everything
and does not have to be paired with a matching 
.BR IMG_Init
 call\[char46]
For that reason, it's considered best practices to have a single

.BR IMG_Init
 and 
.BR IMG_Quit
 call in your program\[char46] While
this isn't required, be aware of the risks of deviating from that behavior\[char46]

After initializing SDL_image, the app may begin to load images into
SDL_Surfaces or SDL_Textures\[char46]

.SH FUNCTION PARAMETERS
.TP
.I flags
initialization flags, OR'd together\[char46]
.SH RETURN VALUE
Returns all currently initialized flags\[char46]

.SH AVAILABILITY
This function is available since SDL_image 3\[char46]0\[char46]0\[char46]

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR IMG_Quit (3)