DirectDraw is a Microsoft API that provides support for hardware-accelerated 2-D graphics for Windows applications. It offers fast access to display hardware while retaining compatibility with the Windows graphics device interface. DirectDraw enables applications to allocate, manipulate and transfer between system and display device memory and uses hardware acceleration where available.

DirectDraw supports the following functions:

• Direct access to the video frame buffer
• Bit-block transfers
• Page flipping and multiple back buffers
  
• Image surface overlay
  
• Alpha image blending
• Video YUV pixel formats and color conversio