DIRECTX
DirectX is a Windows technology that enables higher performance in graphics and sound when you're playing games or watching video on your PC.
At the core of DirectX are its application programming interfaces, or APIs. The APIs act as a kind of bridge for the hardware and the software to 'talk' to each other. The DirectX APIs give multimedia applications access to the advanced features of high-performance hardware such as three-dimensional (3-D) graphics acceleration chips and sound cards. They control low-level functions, including two-dimensional (2-D) graphics acceleration; support for input devices such as joysticks, keyboards, and mice; and control of sound mixing and sound output. Because of DirectX, what you experience with your computer is better 3-D graphics and immersive music and audio effects.
DOWNLOAD
9.0c (full EN)
 Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Professional Edition , Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Service Pack 2, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows ME, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional Edition, Windows XP Service Pack 1
9.0b capture-patch (EN)
9.0b capture-patch (NL) 		DirectX 9.0b was released on 7/23/03 to address the MIDI security issue identified in bulletin MS03-030. A small number of non-security fixes were also included in the release. One of these fixes caused several TV Tuner capture card/driver combinations using video formats other than NTSC (NTSC-J, PAL, SECAM) to no longer initialize correctly on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Symptoms include loss of capture functionality and potential inability to set/retain device capture settings. This hotfix, documented further in Knowledge Base article 825116, has been issued to correct the flaw.
9.0b (full EN) DirectX 9.0b Redistributable English
DirectPlay 8.2 (full EN) This version of DirectX can replace all previous released versions of DirectX.
This download contains DirectX 8.1b plus some DirectPlay fixes related to performance and connectivity issues exhibited with some online multiplayer game titles. This release of DirectX is not recommended for general installation. You should only consider installing this release if you have an online gaming problem that has been identified as being fixed with version 8.2.
DirectPlay 8.2 (update EN) DirectPlay 8.2 update (DirectX 8.1b or WXP required).
This download contains some DirectPlay fixes related to performance and connectivity issues exhibited with some online multiplayer game titles. This release is not recommended for general installation. You should only consider installing this release if you have an online gaming problem that has been identified as being fixed with version 8.2.
8.1b (W98/WME EN)
8.1b (W98/WME NL)
8.1b (W2k EN)
8.1b (W2k NL) 		DirectX 8.1b final.
Note: For Windows XP, DirectX is included in the latest servicepack.
Note: For Windows 95, use DirectX 8.0a.
  • DirectShow: Modifies kernel component stream.sys to correct failure of laptops to resume from hibernation as described in Knowledge Base article Q307207. This fix only affects Windows 2000 systems using a docking station having an attached USB camera
  • DirectShow: Fixes a blocking issue in quartz.dll on Windows 2000 when running DirectShow in a service
  • DirectShow: Corrects a boundary case in the MPEG-2 Demultiplexer where packets may be dropped. This condition can occur if the video stream packet size is an integral multiple of transport packet size. The fix is incorporated for all DirectX-supported platforms
  • Direct3D: Fixes Direct3D-base screen savers, when the computer may be unable to enter standby or hibernation by using the timer in Power Management properties
  • Direct3D: Fixes some recent game titles that use DrawIndexedPrimitive() API with clipped TL vertices
  • Direct3D: Fixes flashing polygons/lines issues in some applications that used DirectX 8.0 DrawPrim(), DrawClippedPrim, DrawIndexedPrim() APIs
8.0a (W9x EN)
8.0a (W9x NL) 		DirectX 8.0a.
Note: This is the last DirectX release for Windows 95.
LINKS
DirectX homepage
Microsoft homepage