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4/8/2010
DirectDraw is an API that allows applications high performance, low-level control of video controllers and graphics adapters. The API is based on the flexible Component Object Model (COM), but is not technically a COM component. For example, there is no support for CoCreateInstance.
At its core, DirectDraw serves as a video memory manager. It allocates video memory and it performs operations on video memory, including blits to and from the screen and system memory. It also contains low-level live video functionality.