# Method SDL.open_audio()

Method open_audio

  ``void` open_audio(`int` `frequency`, `int` `format`, `int` `channels`, `int` `bufsize`)`

Description

  Initializes the audio API.

  Throws an exception if audio can't be initialized.

Parameter `frequency`

  Output sampling frequency, measured in samples per second (Hz). A value of `44100` provides CD-quality playback. A less CPU-intensive value for games is `22050`.

Parameter `format`

  Output sample format. One of the following constants:

  SDL.AUDIO_U8

    Unsigned 8-bit samples.

  SDL.AUDIO_S8

    Signed 8-bit samples.

  SDL.AUDIO_U16LSB

    Unsigned 16-bit samples in little-endian byte order.

  SDL.AUDIO_S16LSB

    Signed 16-bit samples in little-endian byte order.

  SDL.AUDIO_U16MSB

    Unsigned 16-bit samples in big-endian byte order.

  SDL.AUDIO_S16MSB

    Signed 16-bit samples in big-endian byte order.

  SDL.AUDIO_U16

    Same as SDL.AUDIO_U16LSB.

  SDL.AUDIO_S16

    Same as SDL.AUDIO_S16LSB.

  SDL.AUDIO_U16SYS

    Unsigned 16-bit samples in system byte order.

  SDL.AUDIO_S16SYS

    Signed 16-bit samples in system byte order. If in doubt, try this one first.

Parameter `channels`

  Number of sound channels in output: `1` for mono, `2` for stereo.

Parameter `bufsize`

  How many bytes to use per output sample. `1024` is a typical value for games. If just playing music you might set this to `4096` or higher.