Editing OpenAL (section)

{{Short description|API for rendering audio}}
{{Distinguish|OpenAI}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox software
|name                   = OpenAL
|logo                   = OpenAL logo.svg
|logo size              = 200px
|logo caption           = 
|screenshot             = 
|caption                = 
|author                 = [[Loki Software]]
|developer              = [[Creative Technology]]
|latest release version = 1.1 (installer 2.1.0.0)<ref>{{cite web |title=OpenAL: Cross Platform 3D Audio |url=https://openal.org/downloads/ |website=openal.org}}</ref>
|latest release date    = {{Start date and age|2009|11}}
|programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]]
|operating system       = {{No wrap|15 operating systems<br />See: [[#Supported platforms|Supported platforms]]}}
|genre                  = [[Application programming interface]]
|license                =
* Sample Implementation: [[proprietary software|Proprietary]] since v1.1, [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]] before v1.1, [[BSD licenses|BSD]] in early versions<ref>{{cite web|url=http://connect.creativelabs.com/openal/Documentation/The%20OpenAL%20Utility%20Toolkit.htm|title=OpenAL License|access-date=November 10, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230175931/http://connect.creativelabs.com/openal/Documentation/The%20OpenAL%20Utility%20Toolkit.htm|archive-date=December 30, 2012}}</ref>
* "OpenAL" trademark: unclear, held by Creative Labs, Inc.
}}
'''OpenAL''' ('''Open Audio Library'''<ref>{{cite book |last=Hall |first=John |date=2001 |title=Programming Linux Games |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7eAPUdU3hRUC&pg=PA63 |publisher=No Starch Press |page=63}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilde |first=Martin |date=2004 |title=Audio Programming for Interactive Games |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKLTM4xAQ-oC&pg=PA11 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=11}}</ref>) is a [[cross-platform]] audio [[application programming interface]] (API). It is designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three-dimensional positional audio. Its API style and conventions deliberately resemble those of [[OpenGL]]. OpenAL is an environmental [[3D audio effect|3D audio]] library, which can add realism to a game by simulating [[Acoustic attenuation|attenuation]] (degradation of sound over distance), the [[Doppler effect]] (change in frequency as a result of motion), and material densities.

OpenAL aimed to originally be an [[open standard]] and [[open-source software|open-source]] replacement for [[proprietary software|proprietary]] (and generally incompatible with one another) 3D audio APIs such as [[DirectSound]] and [[Core Audio]], though in practice has largely been implemented on various platforms as a [[Wrapper library|wrapper]] around said proprietary APIs or as a proprietary and vendor-specific fork. While the [[reference implementation]] later became proprietary and unmaintained, there are open source implementations such as [[#Implementations|OpenAL Soft]] available.