DirectX 12

DirectX is the part of Windows that games and video players use to talk to your graphics card, sound and controllers.

DirectX 12 is already built into Windows 10 and 11, so this page is mostly about the older runtime that classic games still need.

If a game just said d3dx9_43.dll or xinput1_3.dll is missing, the June 2010 runtime on our download page is the fix.

Which Download Do You Need?

DirectX 12 Has No Separate Installer

DirectX 11 and 12 come with Windows 10 and 11, and Microsoft updates them through Windows Update. Any site offering a "DirectX 12 setup" file is repackaging the old runtime or something worse.

To see what you have, press Windows + R, type dxdiag and press Enter. The System tab shows your DirectX version, and the Display tab shows what your graphics card supports.

Our guide on getting DirectX 11.3 and 12 walks through the Windows Update steps.

The June 2010 Runtime for Older Games

Many games from about 2002 to 2014 were built with helper files such as d3dx9, d3dx11, XInput 1.3 and XAudio 2.7. Windows 10 and 11 do not include them, which is why an old game can fail on a brand-new PC.

The download page has Microsoft's full offline package, directx_Jun2010_redist.exe. Run it, pick a temporary folder to unpack into, then run DXSETUP.exe from that folder.

It only adds the missing older files. It does not replace or downgrade DirectX 12, so it is safe to install on any current PC.

When the Problem Is Your Graphics Driver

Errors such as "DirectX encountered an unrecoverable error" almost always come from the graphics driver, not DirectX. Update it first and restart.

Get the newest driver for your card: NVIDIA GeForce drivers or AMD Radeon Adrenalin.

Intel graphics owners use the Intel Graphics Driver.

If a game crashes only in DirectX 12 mode, switch it to DirectX 11 in its graphics settings. To clear out old driver packages, Driver Store Explorer is the tool technicians use.

DirectX 12 or DirectX 12 Ultimate?

DirectX 12 Ultimate is not a separate download. It is a set of extra features, such as ray tracing and mesh shaders, that newer graphics cards support on Windows 10 version 2004 or later and on Windows 11.

NVIDIA RTX 20 series and newer, AMD Radeon RX 6000 series and newer, and Intel Arc cards support it. Older cards still run DirectX 12, just without those features.

DirectX and Video Playback

Players also use DirectX to decode video on the graphics card, which is why 4K HEVC and AV1 play smoothly on modern PCs. Our guide to how DirectX handles video decoding explains it in plain terms.

If a video will not play, you need a decoder rather than DirectX. The K-Lite Codec Pack or LAV Filters add them with hardware decoding switched on.

VLC Media Player plays nearly everything on its own, and DXVA Checker shows which formats your graphics card decodes in hardware.

Quick questions

Not sure whether a file needs a codec? The Codec Finder identifies it in seconds.

Download the DirectX June 2010 runtime for older games, or tell us which game it fixed.