Software Alternatives & Reviews

XInput VS OpenAL Soft

Compare XInput VS OpenAL Soft and see what are their differences

XInput logo XInput

XInput is an API that allows applications to receive input from the Xbox Controller for Windows.

OpenAL Soft logo OpenAL Soft

OpenAL Soft is an LGPL-licensed, cross-platform, software implementation of the OpenAL 3D audio API.
  • XInput Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-27
  • OpenAL Soft Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-18

XInput videos

Redgear Pro Wireless Gamepad | Review after 1 yr | Best Controller | Xinput vs Direct Input

More videos:

  • Review - Razer Raiju Review - Best PS4 and PC Xinput Controller?
  • Review - Steelseries Stratus XL for Windows and Android Bluetooth Game Controller Review - Supports Xinput

OpenAL Soft videos

F.E.A.R. w/ EAX & 3D spatial sound 🎧 (OpenAL Soft HRTF)

More videos:

  • Review - F.E.A.R DirectSound3D: Creative Alchemy vs OpenAL Soft (Headphone only)
  • Review - Counter-Strike 1.0 WON w/ 3D spatial sound (OpenAL Soft HRTF audio) 20th Anniversary!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to XInput and OpenAL Soft)
Game Development
64 64%
36% 36
Game Engine
53 53%
47% 47
Development Tools
0 0%
100% 100
3D Game Engine
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using XInput and OpenAL Soft. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, OpenAL Soft should be more popular than XInput. It has been mentiond 11 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

XInput mentions (3)

  • what is your unpopular opinion regarding simracing?
    DirectInput dates back to the Win9x days, and the current implementation dates back to the WinXP days. It's officially deprecated by Microsoft, which basically means "stop using it for new development." Its replacements are XInput (the Xbox controller API) and a similar API called Windows.Gaming.Input, intended for UWP applications. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Looking for steering wheels that uses XInput on PC?
    For those unfamiliar with the XInput standard https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/xinput/xinput-and-directinput. Source: over 1 year ago
  • odd wheel base hardware
    I have experience making Teensy joysticks, so the hardware/firmware side is covered. I'm happy to hear DirectInput is still being used contrary to MS advice https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/xinput/xinput-and-directinput Https://github.com/redragonx/can2rNET provides the interface to wheelchair control system. Source: over 2 years ago

OpenAL Soft mentions (11)

  • Audio Library
    OpenAL is probably the best middle ground. Source: 10 months ago
  • Prey (2017) Director: Using That Name Was A Mistake
    OpenAL Soft - Greatly improves audio. (Enable EAX effects in SS2 settings after this OpenAL Soft is installed). System Shock 2 used hardware accelerated audio effects and those work only if you have sound card that supports them. OpenAL Soft implements all those effects in software so you get good audio. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Death lamp worth?
    .MHR cannot be opened without a file viewer (Binary data). Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Anyone know a good OpenAL alternative or wrapper which works on Apple platforms?
    Sounds like you want OpenAL Soft a cross platform LGPL software implementation of OpenAL. Source code and issue tracker are [on Github](0https://github.com/kcat/openal-soft). Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Latest versions of Creative ALchemy and OpenAL
    OpenAL. I found OpenAL v1.1 Windows Installer from OpenAL: Cross Platform 3D Audio but OpenAL Soft v1.21.0 from here https://openal-soft.org/. What is the difference and which should I download? Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing XInput and OpenAL Soft, you can also consider the following products

Amazon GameLift - Amazon Gamelift is a dedicated server platform for online video gaming. Notable customers include High Horse Entertainment, Wargaming Mobile, Gearbox Software, Aon Interactive and Proletariat, Inc... read more.

PortAudio - PortAudio is a cross platform, open-source, audio I/O library.

BitBucket - Bitbucket is a free code hosting site for Mercurial and Git. Manage your development with a hosted wiki, issue tracker and source code.

OpenAL - OpenAL is a cross-platform 3D audio API appropriate for use with gaming applications and many other...

GameAnalytics - Free n' Fast Game Analytics

JUCE - JUCE is a wide-ranging C++ class library for building rich cross-platform applications and plugins...