vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR(3)

# vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR(3) Manual Page

## Name

vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR - Query color formats supported by surface

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## C Specification

To query the supported swapchain format-color space pairs for a surface, call:

    // Provided by VK_KHR_surface
    VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR(
        VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
        VkSurfaceKHR                                surface,
        uint32_t*                                   pSurfaceFormatCount,
        VkSurfaceFormatKHR*                         pSurfaceFormats);

## Parameters

- `physicalDevice` is the physical device that will be associated with the swapchain to be created, as described for vkCreateSwapchainKHR.

- `surface` is the surface that will be associated with the swapchain.

- `pSurfaceFormatCount` is a pointer to an integer related to the number of format pairs available or queried, as described below.

- `pSurfaceFormats` is either `NULL` or a pointer to an array of `VkSurfaceFormatKHR` structures.

## Description

If `pSurfaceFormats` is `NULL`, then the number of format pairs supported for the given `surface` is returned in `pSurfaceFormatCount`. Otherwise, `pSurfaceFormatCount` must point to a variable set by the application to the number of elements in the `pSurfaceFormats` array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to `pSurfaceFormats`. If the value of `pSurfaceFormatCount` is less than the number of format pairs supported, at most `pSurfaceFormatCount` structures will be written, and `VK_INCOMPLETE` will be returned instead of `VK_SUCCESS`, to indicate that not all the available format pairs were returned.

The number of format pairs supported must be greater than or equal to 1. `pSurfaceFormats` must not contain an entry whose value for `format` is `VK_FORMAT_UNDEFINED`.

If `pSurfaceFormats` includes an entry whose value for `colorSpace` is `VK_COLOR_SPACE_SRGB_NONLINEAR_KHR` and whose value for `format` is a UNORM (or SRGB) format and the corresponding SRGB (or UNORM) format is a color renderable format for `VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL`, then `pSurfaceFormats` must also contain an entry with the same value for `colorSpace` and `format` equal to the corresponding SRGB (or UNORM) format.

If the `VK_GOOGLE_surfaceless_query` extension is enabled, the values returned in `pSurfaceFormats` will be identical for every valid surface created on this physical device, and so `surface` can be VK_NULL_HANDLE.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR-surface-06524
  If the `VK_GOOGLE_surfaceless_query` extension is not enabled, `surface` must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR-surface-06525
  If `surface` is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, `surface` must be supported by `physicalDevice`, as reported by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceSupportKHR or an equivalent platform-specific mechanism

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR-physicalDevice-parameter
  `physicalDevice` must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR-surface-parameter
  If `surface` is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, `surface` must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR-pSurfaceFormatCount-parameter
  `pSurfaceFormatCount` must be a valid pointer to a `uint32_t` value

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR-pSurfaceFormats-parameter
  If the value referenced by `pSurfaceFormatCount` is not `0`, and `pSurfaceFormats` is not `NULL`, `pSurfaceFormats` must be a valid pointer to an array of `pSurfaceFormatCount` VkSurfaceFormatKHR structures

- VUID-vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR-commonparent
  Both of `physicalDevice`, and `surface` that are valid handles of non-ignored parameters must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Return Codes

On success, this command returns

  - `VK_SUCCESS`

  - `VK_INCOMPLETE`

On failure, this command returns

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY`

  - `VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR`

## See Also

VK_KHR_surface, VkPhysicalDevice, VkSurfaceFormatKHR, VkSurfaceKHR

## Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

## Copyright

Copyright 2014-2025 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0