Repository: r-lyeh/single_file_libs
Stars: 9856
README.md
<p align="center">
<a href="https://discord.gg/2fZVEym"><img alt="Discord" src="https://img.shields.io/discord/354670964400848898?color=5865F2&label=Chat&logo=discord&logoColor=white"/></a><br/>
<h1 align="center">
C/C++ open-source libraries with minimal dependencies
</h1>
</p>
Generally, the following is a list of small, easy-to-integrate, portable libraries
which are usable from C and/or C++, and should be able to be compiled on both
32-bit and 64-bit platforms. There is preference for libraries that are C, public domain and single-file.
However, we have not personally verified that any specific library is as advertised, or is quality software.
New libraries and corrections
We accept submissions for new libraries and corrections if information for a library below is wrong.
Consider either opening a Pull Request, a new Issue or drop a message in our discord channel: https://discord.gg/2fZVEym
The server is meant to be a pleasant space to chat about C, C++, Libs authoring and Game development specifically.
Rules
- Libraries must be usable from C or C++, ideally both.
- Libraries must include the licensing terms in the header and source files.
- Libraries should be usable from more than one platform (ideally, all major desktops and/or all major mobile).
- Libraries should compile and work on both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms.
- Libraries should use at most two files (one header, one source): more than two files are mostly forbidden.
Exceptions will be allowed for good reasons.
Other lists
Also you might be interested in other related, but different lists:
- STB: the mighty collection of gamedev utils.
- clib: list of (mostly) small single C functions (licenses not listed)
- CCAN: package of lots of shareable C functions (mixed licenses)
- And some more:
andrewwillmott,
b-library (C,C++),
blastbay,
chobo-shl (C++),
clibs,
containers (C++),
cpp-poc (C++),
cute_headers (C,C++),
data-structures-c,
dr_libs,
dyeo.h,
emilib (C++),
final_game_tech (C,C++),
ftg_toolbox_public,
gb,
gl-helpers (C,C++),
ijhandlealloc,
jar,
jo,
kj,
klib,
kokke,
libjrc,
libs,
libs,
live_edit,
maratis,
minilibs,
miscsrc,
mmx,
nflibs,
noc,
ok-fm,
ok-lib,
par,
pico_headers,
portable-snippets,
px (C++),
rjm,
rxi,
shadertoolkit,
single-header-file-c-libs,
skeeto,
slibs,
snippets,
snippets,
sokol,
statvs (C++),
sts,
sweet (C++),
tinybits (C,C++),
tm,
utl (C++),
yocto-gl (C++),
zero,
zeroTolerance,
zheaders,
zpl,
Main listing
Single-header C files with clause-less licenses are highlighted.
|tag | library | description
|:-------:|:---------|:-----------------
2d |Blendish (1 C, MIT) |Blender-style widget rendering using NanoVG
2d |C-Turtle (1 C++, MIT) |Port of Python's Turtle to C++
2d |Cgl (2 C, MIT) |C Game Library
2d |Cimg (1 C++, CeCILL) |Image processing toolkit (60K LoC)
2d |Colourblind (1 C, ISC) |Simulating colourblindness
2d |Daisy (1 C++, MIT) |2D Graphics and text
2d |GlyType (1, C, WTFPL2) |Ultra lightweight font renderer
2d |Immediate2D (2 C++, PD) |Zero-configuration, immediate-mode 2D graphics for Windows
2d |M_image.h (1 C, ZLIB) |Image processing routines
2d |RFont (1 C, ZLIB) |Simple-to-use lightweight single header modular font rendering library
2d |RGL (1 C, ZLIB) |Simple ultra-lightweight OpenGL version abstraction based on RLGL (pipeline system)
2d |Scalable-font2 (1 C, MIT) |Scalable Font renderer + specification
2d |Si_normalmap (1 C, PD) |Image to Normal Map generator
2d |Tigr (2 C, PD) |Windowing, text and graphics for Windows, Linux and macOS
2d |Wfc (1 C, MIT) |Generate image locally similar to the input image using WFC algorithm
3d |Debug-draw (1 C++, PD) |API-agnostic immediate-mode debug rendering
3d |Lightmapper (1 C, PD) |Use your OpenGL renderer to offline bake lightmaps
3d |Mikktspace (2 C, ZLIB) |Compute tangent space for normal mapping
3d |Model3d (1 C, MIT) |3D model format specification
3d |Seamoptimizer (1 C, PD) |Modify lightmap data to hide seams
3d |Simple OpenGL Loader (1 C, MIT) |Extensible, cross-platform OpenGL loader
3d |Small3dlib (1 C, CC0) |Fast and portable software renderer
3d |Stb_voxel_render (1 C, PD) |Minecraft-esque voxel rendering "engine" with many more features
3d |Swarmz (1 C++, PD) |Swarming/flocking algorithm
3d |Tinygizmo (2 C++, PD) |Gizmo objects for interactively editing 3d transformations
3d |Vertex Cache Optimizer (1 C, PD) |Vertex cache optimization of meshes
3d |Vulkan Memory Allocator (1 C, MIT) |Memory allocator for Vulkan
3d |ZLight (1 C, ZLIB) |Software rendering with depth, light and shadow
ai |Genann (2 C, ZLIB) |Simple neural networks (ANN)
ai |KANN (2 C, MIT) |Automatic differentiation (2 files)
app |RGFW (1 C, ZLIB) |A multi-platform single-header user-friendly GUI framework as an alternative to GLFW
argv |Argh! (1 C++, BSD) |Command-line argument parsing
argv |Clara (1 C++, BOOST) |Composable, command line parser for C++ 11 and beyond
argv |CLI11 (1 C++, BSD) |Feature-rich CLI parsing in modern C++11
argv |Cmdline (1 C++, BSD) |Command-line argument parsing
argv |Flags (1 C++, PD) |Command-line argument parsing
argv |Kgflags (1 C, MIT) |Command-line argument parsing
argv |Linkom (1 C, MIT) |Command-line argument parsing w/ DOS-style options
argv |Optionparser (1 C++, MIT) |Command-line argument parsing
argv |Parg (2 C, PD) |Command-line argument parsing
argv |ProgramOptions.hxx (1 C++, MIT) |Command-line argument parsing
asm |Chasm (2 C, PD) |Runtime X64 assembler
audio |Atomix (1 C, PD) |Wait-free atomic sound mixer
audio |Aw_ima.h (1 C, MIT) |IMA-ADPCM audio decoder
audio |Btac1c (1 C, MIT) |MS-IMA_ADPCM variant
audio |Chibi-xmplay (2 C, BSD3) |XM module playback library
audio |clownresampler (1 C, BSD0) |Audio resampling
audio |Miniaudio (2 C, PD) |Audio playback and capture library
audio |Miniflac (1 C, BSD0) |FLAC decoder with a push-style API
audio |Minimp3 (1 C, CC0) |Minimalistic MP3 decoder with sse/neon support
audio |MojoAL (1 C, ZLIB) |Full OpenAL 1.1 implementation
audio |Nanoalsa (1 C, MIT) |Tiny PCM playback under Linux
audio |Organya.h (1 C, BSD0) |Organya/OrgMaker music renderer
audio |Pocketmod (1 C, MIT) |ProTracker MOD file renderer
audio |Stb_hexwave (1 C, PD) |Audio waveform synthesizer
audio |Stb_vorbis (1 C, PD) |Decode ogg vorbis files from file/memory to float/16-bit signed output
audio |Tflac (1 C, BSD0) |Freestanding FLAC encoding library in C89
audio |TinySoundFont (1 C, MIT) |SoundFont2 loader & synthesizer
bench |Picobench (1 C++, MIT) |Microbenchmarking
bench |Ubench.h (1 C, PD) |Microbenchmarking
c |Errnoname (2 C, BSD0) |Extended errno messages
c |Minicoro (1 C, PD-0MIT) |Stackful cross-platform coroutine library
c |Stb_sprintf (1 C, PD) |Fast sprintf, snprintf for C/C++
cpp |Filesystem (1 C++, MIT) |Implementation of std::filesystem
cpp |Outcome (1 C++, APACHE2-BOOST) |Outcome and result C++ containers
crypt |Ggentropy (2 C++, ISC) |Cross platform entropy library
crypt |Monocypher (2 C, PD) |High-quality small cryptography library
crypt |Random3 (1 C, PD) |Crypt-random generator
crypt |TweetNaCl (2 C, PD) |High-quality tiny cryptography library
csv |CSVstream (1 C++, MIT) |CSV parser
csv |Fast C++ CSV Parser (1 C++, BSD) |CSV parser
csv |Rapidcsv (1 C++, BSD) |CSV parser
csv |Vince's CSV Parser (1 C++, MIT) |CSV parser and serializer
date |Date (1 C++, MIT) |Date and time libraries
debug |B_stacktrace (1 C, MIT) |Stack tracing
debug |Dbgtools (2 C, ZLIB) |Cross-platform debug util libraries
debug |Debug-assert (1 C++, ZLIB) |Modular assertion macro
debug |Debugbreak (1 C, BSD) |Programmatic debug break
debug |Loguru (1 C++, PD) |Flexible logging
debug |Pempek_assert.cpp (2 C++, WTFPL2) |Flexible assertions
dev |Libue (1 C, MIT) |Helper library for Linux device hot-plug event
ds |AArray (1 C, PD) |Arrays/strings: generic, safe
ds |Avl (2 C, PD) |AVL tree
ds |Convenient Containers (1 C, MIT) |Typesafe data structures (vector, list, map, set, string, etc.) with a fully generic API and no boilerplate
ds |DG_dynarr.h (1 C, PD) |Typesafe dynamic arrays (like std::vector) for plain C
ds |Dynarr (1 C, PD) |Dynamic array container
ds |DynaVar (1 C++, GPL3) |Object which can store any type of primitive data type
ds |Fifo_declare.h (1 C, LGPL2) |Thread/core safe FIFO
ds |Hashmap (1 C, BSD0) |Type-safe hashmaps
ds |Itlib (1 C++, MIT) |Several C++11 standard-contaner-like libraries and helpers
ds |Jhr_skip_list (1 C++, PD) |Skip Lists
ds |Jrsl (1 C, PD) |Skip Lists
ds |Klib (2 C, MIT) |Many 2-file libs: hash, sort, b-tree, etc
ds |Libintrusive (2 C, PD) |Intrusive data structures
ds |Libpqueue (2 C, BSD) |Priority queue (heap)
ds |LinkedList (2 C, MIT) |Linked list C++
ds |Mempool (1 C++, MIT) |Efficient minimal memory pool implementation for C++
ds |PackedArray (2 C, WTFPL2) |Memory-efficient array of elements with non-pow2 bitcount
ds |Selist (2 C, ISC) |Space-efficient linked-list
ds |Simclist (2 C, BSD) |Linked-list
ds |Stb_ds (1 C, PD) |Typesafe dynamic array and hash tables for C, will compile in C++
ds |Uthash (2 C, BSD) |Several 1-header, 1-license-file libs: generic hash, list, etc
ds |Vector (1 C, BSD0) |Type-safe dynamic arrays
ds |Verstable (1 C, MIT) |High performance and typesafe generic hash table
ds |Yar (1 C, PD) |Type-safe dynamic arrays in C
engine |Kit (1 C, PD) |Tiny library for making small games with big pixels
engine |OlcPixelGameEngine (1 C++, BSD3) |Game engine
engine |Punity (1 C, MIT) |A tiny game engine in C
file |ByteArray (2 C, GPL3) |Library to read, write and print binary files
file |Dirent (1 C, MIT) |Dirent for Windows: retrieve file & dir info
file |Miniphysfs (1 C, ZLIB) |Single-file port of PhysFS, a fs/zip abstraction
file |Tfile (1 C++, MIT) |FILE* wrapper does read-write-append-seek-close (Win/Mac/Unix)
file |TinyDir (1 C, BSD) |Cross-platform directory reading (Win/POSIX/MinGW)
file |VeloxFS (1 C, PD) |Single-header C99 filesystem for embedded, game assets, or persistent binary storage
file |Whereami (2 C, WTFPL2) |Get path/filename of executable or module
font |Blit-fonts (1 C, ISC) |Bitmap font blitters
font |Ssfn.h (1 C, MIT) |Scalable/bitmap/pixmap font renderer
font |Stb_easy_font (1 C, PD) |Quick-and-dirty easy-to-deploy bitmap font for printing frame rate, etc
font |Stb_truetype (1 C, PD) |Parse, decode, and rasterize characters from truetype fonts
game |Raycastlib.h (1 C, CC0) |Advanced raycasting rendering library, pure C99 with no dependencies, only 32bit int math
game |Roguelike.h (1 C, MIT) |Simple game library for Roguelike games: pathfinding, Dijkstra graphs, dungeon generation...
game |Stb_connected_components (1 C, PD) |Incrementally compute reachability on grids
game |Stb_herringbone_wang_tile (1 C, PD) |Herringbone Wang tile map generator
game |Stb_tilemap_editor (1 C, PD) |Embeddable tilemap editor
gpu |Cds_gpubuf (1 C, PD) |Compress/interleave arrays from/into GPU buffers.
hash |Hash.c (2 C, PD) |SHA1/SHA3/MD5 hashes
hash |Lonesha256 (1 C, PD) |SHA256 implementation
hash |PicoSHA2 (1 C++, MIT) |SHA256 implementation
hash |XxHash (2 C, BSD) |Fast hash function
image |Bitmap (1 C++, MIT) |Bitmap decoder and utilities
image |Cro_mipmap.h (1 C, PD) |Average, min, max mipmap generators
image |FlatCV (2 C, ISC) |Image processing and computer vision library
image |Framepacker (1 C++, MIT) |Texture bin packing algorithm
image |Jo_sift (1 C, PD) |Image feature detection and matching
image |Stb_image (1 C, PD) |Image loading/decoding from file/memory: JPG, PNG, TGA, BMP, PSD, GIF, HDR, PIC
image |Stb_image_resize (1 C, PD) |Resize images larger/smaller with good quality
image |Stb_image_write (1 C, PD) |Image writing to disk: PNG, TGA, BMP
image |Stb_perlin (1 C, PD) |Perlin's revised simplex noise w/ different seeds
image |Stb_rect_pack (1 C, PD) |Simple 2D rectangle packer with decent quality
image |Tiffloader (2 C, PD) |TIFF image loader
image |EXR Miniexr (2 C++, PD) |OpenEXR writer, needs header file
image |EXR Tinyexr (1 C, BSD) |EXR image read/write, uses miniz internally
image |GIF Gif.h (1 C++, PD) |Animated GIF writer (can only include once)
image |GIF Gif_load (1 C, PD) |(animated) GIF reader
image |GIF Jo_gif.cpp (1 C++, PD) |Animated GIF writer (CPP file can also be used as H file)
image |GIF msf_gif.h (1 C, PD) |Animated GIF writer
image |JPG Jpeg-compressor (2 C++, PD) |2-file JPEG compress, 2-file JPEG decompress
image |JPG NanoJPEG (1 C, MIT) |JPEG decoder
image |JPG Tiny_jpeg.h (1 C, PD) |JPEG encoder
image |JPG EXIF Easyexif (2 C++, BSD2) |EXIF metadata extractor for JPEG images
image |JPG EXIF TinyEXIF (2 C++, BSD) |Parse EXIF data from JPEG (XMP w/ TinyXML2 lib)
image |PDF PDFgen (2 C, PD) |PDF writer
image |PNG Lodepng (2 C, ZLIB) |PNG encoder/decoder
image |PNG Picopng.cpp (2 C++, ZLIB) |Tiny PNG loader
image |PNG TinyPngOutput (2 C, LGPLv3) |PNG writer
image |PNM PNM (1 C++, APACHE2) |PBM, PGM and PPM reader and writer
image |SVG NanoSVG (1 C, ZLIB) |1-file SVG parser; 1-file SVG rasterizer
image |WEBP Jebp (1 C, 0MIT) |Single header WebP decoder (only supports lossless images)
image |WEBP tiny-webp (1 C, BSD3) |Single header WebP decoder
ini |Inih (2 C, BSD) |.ini file parser
input |EasyTab (1 C, PD) |Multi-platform tablet input
json |Ajson (1 C++, BOOST) |JSON serialize & deserialize w/ STL support
json |CJSON (1 C, MIT) |JSON parser
json |CJSON (1 C, MIT) |JSON parser
json |csonpath (1 C, BSD3) |JsonPath implementation
json |Jsmn (1 C, MIT) |Minimalistic JSON parser
json |Json-build (1 C, MIT) |JSON serializer
json |Json.h (1 C, PD) |JSON parser
json |Json.hpp (1 C++, MIT) |JSON parse, serialize, deserialize
json |Jsonc (1 C, MIT) |Extremely fast and extremely small (~60 SLoC) JSON parser
json |Jzon.h (2 C++, MIT) |JSON parser
json |Parson (2 C, MIT) |JSON parser and serializer
json |PicoJSON (1 C++, BSD) |JSON parse/serializer
json |Sjson (1 C, BSD2) |JSON encode/decoder
logic |FFSM2 (1 C++, MIT) |Flat FSM
logic |HFSM2 (1 C++, MIT) |Hierarchical FSM
math |Aint (1 C, PD) |Single-header C99 library for large integers
math |Amoeba (1 C, MIT) |Constraint solver (Cassowary) w/Lua binding
math |Cds_spline (1 C, PD) |Spline utils
math |Ceval-single-header (1 C, MIT) |A single-header library for parsing and evaluation of arithmetic expressions
math |Clipper (2 C++, BOOST) |Line & polygon clipping & offsetting
math |Delaunay (2 C++, BSD3) |2D and 3D Delaunay triangulation
math |Delaunay (Constrained) (1 C, PD) |2D Constrained Delaunay Triangulation
math |Df (1 C, PD) |Find voronoi region in linear time of size of lattice
math |Dvector (1 C, PD) |2D/3D vector/quaternion/matrix math library
math |ExprTk (1 C++, MIT) |Runtime mathematical expression parser and evaluation engine.
math |Fft (1 C++, PD) |Fast Fourier Transform
math |HMM Toolkit (1 C, GPL2) |Discrete and continuous Hidden Markov Models (DHMM, CHMM)
math |Jc_voronoi (1 C, MIT) |Find voronoi regions on float/double data
math |Linmath.h (1 C, WTFPL2) |Vector library
math |M_math.h (1 C, ZLIB) |Math with C/OpenCL portability
math |Matrix-hpp (1 C++, MIT) |Matrix class container for linear algebra computations
math |Nanoflann (1 C++, BSD) |Build KD trees for point clouds
math |Nv_voronoi.h (1 C, PD) |Find voronoi regions on lattice w/ integer inputs
math |Omm (1 C++, MIT) |Template open multi-methods
math |OpenNL (2 C++, BSD3) |Linear and eigen solvers
math |Par_msquares (1 C, MIT) |Convert (binarized) image to triangles
math |Par_shapes (1 C, MIT) |Generate various 3d geometric shapes
math |Par_streamlines (1 C, MIT) |Tessellate wide lines and curves with shading attributes
math |PoissonGenerator.h (1 C++, MIT) |Poisson disk points generator (disk or rect)
math |PolyPartition (2 C++, MIT) |Polygon triangulation, partitioning
math |Precision (1 C++, PD) |Arbitrary-precision integer and rational arithmetic | 3 , PD)
math |Prns.h (1 C, PD) |Seekable pseudo-random number sequences
math |Rfft.h (1 C, PD) |Fast Fourier Tranform for arbitrary array sizes
math |Sdf.h (1 C, MIT) |Compute signed-distance field from antialiased image
math |ShaderFastLibs (1 C++, MIT) |(also HLSL) Approximate transcendental functions optimized for shaders (esp. GCN)
math |Simple_linear_regression (1 C, MIT) |Simple linear regression
math |Simrank.hpp (2 C++, MIT) |SimRank graph similarity algorithm
math |smath (1 C++, APACHE2) |Linear algebra math library (C++23)
math |Sobol.h (1 C, PD) |Sobol & stratified sampling sequences
math |Statistics-Tool-Box (1 C, PD) |Statistical functions
math |Stb_divide (1 C, PD) |More useful 32-bit modulus
math |SummedAreaTable (1 C++, MIT) |Summed-Area Table generation and sum/avg queries
math |TinyExpr (2 C, ZLIB) |Evaluation of math expressions from strings
math |Tomas Akenine-Moller snippets (2 C, PD) |Various 3D intersection calculations, not lib-ified
math |Vmath (1 C, PD) |Vector/matrix library
math |Voxelizer (1 C, MIT) |Convert triangle mesh to voxel triangle mesh
math |Xatlas (2 C++, MIT) |Mesh parameterization
mem |Buddy_alloc (1 C, BSD0) |Buddy memory allocator
mem |Stb_leakcheck (1 C, PD) |Quick-and-dirty malloc/free leak-checking
mem |Wb_alloc (1 C, PD) |Custom allocators in a single-header
mesh |Cgltf (1 C, MIT) |GlTF 2.0 file loader
mesh |Fast_obj.h (1 C, MIT) |Wavefront OBJ file loader
mesh |M3d.h (1 C, MIT) |Model 3D importer/exporter (with Blender, Goxel, WebGL JS and assimp integration)
mesh |Objzero (2 C, MIT) |Wavefront OBJ file loader
mesh |Qll_q3.h (1 C++, WTFPL2) |Quake3 BSP loader
mesh |Tinyobjloader-c (1 C, MIT) |Wavefront OBJ file loader
mesh |Tinyobjloader (1 C++, MIT) |Wavefront OBJ file loader
mesh |Tinyply (2 C++, PD) |PLY mesh file loader
mesh |Tk_objfile (1 C, MIT) |OBJ file loader
misc |ASAP (1 C++, MIT) |Library for parsing, printing, iterating and operating on dates.
misc |ASN.1 DER (2 C, PD) |Encoder/decoder for ASN.1 DER format.
misc |CLM_LIBS (1 C, PD) |Diverse utilities
misc |Color-Toolkit (1 C, GPL2) |Color conversion utils (RGB, XYZ, Lab, CIE76, CIE94 and CIEDE200)
misc |Cpp-generators (1 C++, BSD) |Generators in C++
misc |Ebnn.h (1 C, MIT) |BNN (Binarized Neural Networks)
misc |H.h (1 C, GPL3) |Diverse utilities
misc |Hedley (1 C, PD) |Compiler portability, optimization, static analysis, etc.
misc |MakeID.h (1 C++, PD) |Allocate/deallocate small integer IDs efficiently
misc |Mmu (2 C, MIT) |Memory management and data structure toolset
misc |OpenGA (1 C++, MPL2) |A C++ Generic Algorithm solver library
misc |PlusCallback (1 C++, ZLIB) |Function/method callbacks
misc |Process.h (1 C, PD) |Process control API
misc |QR-Code-generator (2 C, MIT) |QR Code generator
misc |Qsort (1 C, MIT) |Qsort algorithm as a C macro
misc |Scogem.c (2 C, PD) |URL parser
misc |Sili (1 C, PD) |C toolchain for modern C programming, strings, arrays, files, threading, ect
misc |Smallxrm.c (2 C, PD) |Implementation of X resource manager
misc |Stb_include (1 C, PD) |Implement recursive #include support, particularly for GLSL
misc |Stmr (2 C, MIT) |Extract English word stems
misc |X.h (1 C, MULAN2) |Cross-platform C/C++ utilities
"misc" |TinyRISCV64 (1 C++, MIT) |RISC-V RV64IM Virtual Machine
nav |M_path_finding.h (1 C, ZLIB) |Floodfill-based path finding
nav |Micropather (2 C++, ZLIB) |Pathfinding with A\*
net |Civetweb (2 C, MIT) |HTTP server, fork of Mongoose
net |Cpp-httplib (1 C, MIT) |Cross-platform HTTP server/client
net |Enet (1 C, MIT) |Reliable UDP networking library
net |EWS (1 C, BSD) |HTTP server
net |Happyhttp (2 C++, ZLIB) |HTTP client requests
net |Libcluon (1 C++, MPL2) |Cross-platform socket wrapper and data marshalling with native implementations for Protobuf, LCM/ZCM, JSON, and MsgPack serialization/deserialization
net |Librg (1 C, BSD3) |World/entity synchronization multiplayer library
net |LUrlParser (2 C++, MIT) |Lightweight URL & URI parser RFC 1738, RFC 3986
net |Mongoose (2 C, GPLv2) |HTTP server
net |Netq (1 C, MIT) |Reliable datagram library
net |Par_easycurl.h (1 C, MIT) |CURL wrapper
net |Simpletls.c (2 C, PD) |Function to create a socket and connect to a remote server with TLS
net |Swrap (1 C, PD) |TCP and UDP socket wrapper
net |Tiniest-analytics (2 C++, MIT) |Cross-platform analytics for games (using Google Analytics <4)
net |Tiny-MQTT-c (4 C, PD) |Small implementation of (some of) the MQTT protocol in C
net |Tlse (2 C, PD-BSD2) |TLS v1.0, 1.2, 1.3 and DTLS 1.0, 1.2 implementations
net |Webster (2 C++, APACHE2) |Standalone HTTP server/client
net |Yocto (2 C, PD) |Non-production-use HTTP server
net |Zed_net (1 C, PD) |Cross-platform socket wrapper
net |Znet (1 C, MIT) |Cross-platform networking w/ Lua binding
nn |Qmtik (1 C, MIT) |Quantized Model Training and Inference Kit
pack |Dmc_unrar (1 C, GPL2) |RAR file decompression
pack |Fastlz (2 C, MIT) |Fast but larger LZ compression
pack |Lz4 (2 C, BSD) |Fast but larger LZ compression
pack |Microtar (2 C, MIT) |Lightweight tar library
pack |Miniz.c (1 C, MIT) |Compression, decompression, ZIP file, PNG writing
pack |Nibrans (1 C, PD) |Adaptive rANS library
pack |Pithy (2 C, BSD) |Fast but larger LZ compression
pack |Rle (1 C, MIT) |Run-length en/decoder
pack |Stb_dxt (1 C, PD) |Real-time DXT compressor
parse |Cmp (2 C, MIT) |MessagePack parser and serializer
parse |Cpp-peglib (1 C, MIT) |PEG (Parsing Expression Grammars) library
parse |FlexiC (2 C, ZLIB) |Google FlexBuffer parser and writer
parse |Furi (1 C, MIT) |URL & URI parsing
parse |Html-parse.c (2 C, GPL) |HTML parser (wget)
parse |SLRE (1 C, GPL2) |Regular expression matcher
parse |Stb_c_lexer (1 C, PD) |Simplify writing parsers for C-like languages
parse |Tok (1 C, MIT) |Configurable tokenizer
parse |Tomlplusplus (1 C++, MIT) |TOML parser and serializer
parse |Udisasm (1 C, MIT) |Extremely small disassembler for ARMv8.2 AArch64 (~65k)
parse |Unformat (1 C++, PD) |Parses formatted strings (reverse of std::format)
prng |Random (1 C++, MIT) |Convenient API for random
prng |Ranxoshi256 (1 C, PD) |Xoshiro256 algorithm
prng |SimplexNoise (1 C++, BSD2) |Collection of noise generators
prng |UTL Random (1 C++, MIT) |Fast random for Monte-Carlo simulations
profile |MicroProfile (4 C++, PD) |CPU (and GPU?) profiler, 1-3 header files, uses miniz internally
profile |Prof (1 C, MIT) |Profiler for Linux
profile |Remotery (2 C, APACHE2) |CPU/GPU profiler Win/Mac/Linux, using web browser for viewer
raster |Canvas_ity (1 C++, ISC) |2D rasterizer
regex |Remimu (1 C, CC0) |Regex engine
script |Duktape (2 C, MIT) |Embeddable JavaScript engine
script |LIL (2 C, ZLIB) |Interpreter for a Tcl-like scripting language
script |Lualite (1 C++, MIT) |Generate Lua bindings in C++
script |Minilua (1 C, MIT) |Single-file port of Lua scripting language
script |MY-BASIC (2 C, MIT) |Interpreter for a BASIC dialect scripting language
script |Picol (1 C, BSD) |Interpreter for a Tcl-like scripting language
script |PocketPy (2 C, MIT) |Portable Python 3.x Interpreter in Modern C for Game Scripting
script |S7 (2 C, BSD) |Interpreter for a subset of Scheme (R5RS/R7RS)
script |Xpl (1 C, WTFPL2) |X Programming Language
serial |Archive (1 C++, PD) |Binary serialize & deserlize w/ STL support
serial |Blob_tree (1 C++, MIT) |Binary tree serializer
serial |Cista (1 C++, MIT) |Cross-platform high performance zero copy C++17 serialization/deserialization
serial |Libcluon (1 C++, MPL2) |Cross-platform data serialization/deserialization with native implementations for Protobuf, LCM/ZCM, JSON, and MsgPack
serial |Qserial (1 C++, BSD3) |Schema-driven serialization library
serial |Serialization helper (1 C, WTFPL2) |Serialization helper
serial |Visit_struct (2 C++, BOOST) |Struct-field reflection
string |Csplit (1 C, MIT) |String splitting and processing single-header library
string |Dfa (2 C, MIT) |Fast UTF-8 decoder (need a header file)
string |Gb_string.h (1 C, PD) |Dynamic strings
string |Ggformat (2 C++, ISC) |Printf replacement
string |Inja.hpp (1 C++, MIT) |Template engine
string |Levenshtein (2 C, MIT) |Compute edit distance between two strings
string |Obfuscate (1 C++, PD) |Guaranteed compile-time string literal obfuscation library for C++14
string |Str.h (1 C++, PD) |Simple C++ string type with an optional local buffer
string |Str (2 C, BSD) |Yet another string library for C language
string |Str_view.hpp (1 C++, MIT) |Null-termination-aware string-view class
string |Tinyformat (1 C++, BOOST) |Typesafe printf
string |Utf8 (1 C, PD) |UTF-8 string library
svg |SimpleSVG (1 C++, BSD3) |Easy to use SVG library
sys |Doops (1 C, PD) |Event loop library
sys |Dotenv (1 C++, Apache2) |Lightweight .env File Loader Library
sys |Endianness.h (1 C, PD) |Endianness conversion and detection
sys |JArgsParser (1 C++, MIT) |Arguments parser
sys |Openmodal (1 C, MIT) |Native file modals
sys |Rang (1 C++, PD) |Cross-platform colored console text
sys |Xproc (2 C++, MIT) |Foreign Process Information
thread |Bikeshed.h (1 C, MIT) |Cross-platform lock free fixed memory hierarchical work scheduler
thread |Cds_job (1 C++, PD) |Lock-free job queue
thread |Cds_sync (1 C, PD) |Collection of synchronization primitives
thread |TinyCThread (2 C, ZLIB) |Cross-platform implementation of the C11 Threads API
thread |TinyThread++ (2 C++, ZLIB) |Cross-platform implementation of the C++11 Threads API
ui |Clay (1 C, ZLIB) |High performance 2D UI layout library
ui |Dear imgui (9 C++, MIT) |An immediate-mode GUI formerly named "ImGui"; 3rd-party C wrapper
ui |Libcmdf (1 C, PD) |A small library for writing CLI applications
ui |Linenoise (2 C, BSD) |Terminal readline w/ history etc
ui |Nuklear (1 C, PD) |Minimal GUI toolkit
ui |Stb_textedit (1 C, PD) |Guts of a text editor for games etc implementing them from scratch
ui |Tinyfiledialogs (2 C, ZLIB) |Modal dialogs inc. file open/save (Win/Mac/Linux)
ui |Wcwidth9 (1 C, APACHE2) |Platform independent wcwidth with full unicode 9 support
ui |Webview (1 C, MIT) |Cross-platform webview library
unit |Catch2 (1 C++, BOOST) |Unit testing
unit |Catch (1 C++, BOOST) |Unit testing
unit |Clove-unit (1 C, MIT) |Unit testing
unit |Doctest (1 C++, MIT) |Unit testing
unit |Fctx (1 C, BSD) |Unit testing
unit |Greatest (1 C, ISC) |Unit testing
unit |Hippomocks (1 C++, LGPL) |Unit testing
unit |Labrat (1 C, PD) |Unit testing
unit |Minctest (1 C, ZLIB) |Unit testing
unit |Munit (1 C, MIT) |Unit testing
unit |Picotest (1 C, MIT) |Unit testing
unit |Rexo (1 C, PD) |Framework for C89/C++ featuring automatic registration of tests and a polished API
unit |SPUT (1 C, BSD) |Unit testing
unit |Trompeloeil (1 C++, BOOST) |Unit testing
unit |Utest.h (1 C, PD) |Unit testing
unit |Utest (1 C, MIT) |Unit testing
unit |Walter (1 C, PD) |Unit testing
uuid |Uuid4 (2 C, WTFPL2-MIT) |UUID v4 generator
uuid |Uuid_h (1 C, ZLIB) |UUID generator
vector |Algebra3.h (1 C++, PD) |Vector utilities for 2, 3, and 4 element vectors, all inline
vector |CcVector.h (1 C, PD) |Vector, quaternion and matrix math
vector |Handmade Math (1 C, PD) |Vector math
vector |Hypatia (1 C, MIT) |Vector/matrix/quaternion math
vector |Linalg.h (1 C++, PD) |Vector/matrix/quaternion math
vector |Linalg (1 C, ISC) |Vector/matrix/quaternion math
video |Jo_mpeg, original (1 C, PD) |MPEG file writer
video |Pl_mpeg (1 C, MIT) |MPEG1 video and audio decoder
xml |Pugixml (2 C++, MIT) |Light-weight C++ XML processing library
xml |Tinyxml2 (2 C++, ZLIB) |Simple, small, efficient, C++ XML parser
xml |Yxml (2 C, MIT) |Small, fast and correct XML parser
yaml |Mini-yaml (2 C++, MIT) |YAML parser and serializer
Secondary listing
Entries in this appendix either do not offer a single-header file directly, or the single-header file is computer generated, or you have to build the single-header by yourself, or lack any other major requirement mentioned above. However, some of you may find the links below still relevant.
|tag | library | description
|:-------:|:---------|:-----------------
db |Sqlite (2 C, PD) |Self-contained, SQL database engine.
engine |FWK1 (1 C, PD) |3D game framework in C
file |DTW (1 C, MIT) |File and folder utilities
net |CWebStudio (1 C, MIT) |WebServer with embedded JSON/HTML utilities
pack |Zstd (? C, BSD3) |Fast real-time compression algorithm
sys |Cpuid (1 C, ???) |Cross-platform cpuid intrinsic
sys |Iathook (1 C, ???) |Import address table hooking library (x86/x64,w32)
<!-- todo
https://github.com/avivbeeri/abc - check branches
https://github.com/stevenlr/Flint - waiting for a 2nd header
https://github.com/azmr/sweet - NO license
https://github.com/983/df
https://github.com/983/fft
https://github.com/andrewwillmott/colour-blind-luts
https://github.com/bqqbarbhg/bq_websocket
https://github.com/jarikomppa/ipc
https://github.com/joric/joirc
https://github.com/schellingb/c-data-structures
https://github.com/ufbx/ufbx
https://github.com/wangyi-fudan/wyhash
https://github.com/wangyi-fudan/wyHLL
https://github.com/willemt/raft_amalgamation
https://github.com/willemt/splay-tree
https://github.com/willemt/yabtorrent
https://github.com/xtopher-xyz/xrns-player
https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/links/libs
-->
List FAQ
Can I link directly to this list?
Yes. For historical reasons, this is the preferred link.
Why isn't library XXX which is made of 3 or more files on this list?
We draw the line arbitrarily at 2 files at most. Some of these libraries are still easy to drop into
your project and build, so you might still be ok with them. But since people come to stb for single-file
public domain libraries, we feel that starts to get too far from what we do here.
Why isn't library XXX which is at most two files and has minimal other dependencies on this list?
Probably because we don't know about it, feel free to submit a pull request or issue (it can be your
own library or somebody else's). But we might not include it for various other reasons, including
subtleties of what is 'minimal other dependencies' and subtleties about what is 'lightweight'.
What are the differences between C, C++ and C/C++ in the API column?
For the API column, "C" means a C library that may be C++ compatible but this not guaranteed nor verified,
"C++" means C++ only and thus not C compatible, and "C/C++" means a C library with additional features when compiled in C++ mode.
<!--
For the API column, "C" means C only, "C++" means C++ only, and "C/C++" means C/C++ usable
from either; some files may require building as C or C++ but still qualify as "C/C++" as
long as the header file uses extern "C" to make it work. (In some cases, a header-file-only
library may compile as both C or C++, but produce an implementation that can only be called from
one or the other, because of a lack of use of extern "C"; in this case the table still qualifies it
as C/C++, as this is not an obstacle to most users.)
-->
Why are the LICENSING terms required in the header and source files?
Please note that every file that must be included in a user's project counts; a header and a source
file is 2 files, but a header file, source file, and LICENSE (if the license isn't in the
source file) is 3 files, and won't be accepted, because it's not 2 files. But actually
'LICENSE' is a problem for just dropping the library in a source tree anyway, since it's
not scoped to just the library, so library authors are encouraged to include the license in the
source file and not require a separate LICENSE.
<!--
Why isn't SQLite's amalgamated build on this list?
Come on.
-->