diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index f8b7d8b..aa23371 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const UI = @import("./ui/ui.zig").UI;
 const Vulkan = @import("./vulkan/vulkan.zig").Vulkan;
 const StateActor = @import("./state_actor.zig").StateActor;
 const Util = @import("./util.zig");
+const sdl = @import("./ui/sdl.zig");
 const PlatformCaptureSetup = @import("./capture/platform_capture_setup.zig").PlatformCaptureSetup;
 
 const PlatformVideoCapture = if (Util.isLinux())
@@ -31,10 +32,10 @@ pub fn main() !void {
     PlatformCaptureSetup.init();
     defer PlatformCaptureSetup.deinit();
 
-    var sdl_vulkan_extensions = try UI.getSDLVulkanExtensions(allocator);
-    defer sdl_vulkan_extensions.deinit(allocator);
+    var sdl_vulkan_extensions = try sdl.get_sdl_vulkan_extensions(allocator);
+    defer sdl_vulkan_extensions.deinit();
 
-    const vulkan = try Vulkan.init(allocator, sdl_vulkan_extensions.items);
+    const vulkan = try Vulkan.init(allocator, sdl_vulkan_extensions.list.items);
     defer vulkan.deinit();
 
     // TODO: create dropdown selector in UI to select capture method when more are implemented.
diff --git a/src/ui/sdl.zig b/src/ui/sdl.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb54639
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/sdl.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const util = @import("../util.zig");
+const imguiz = @import("imguiz").imguiz;
+
+const log = std.log.scoped(.sdl);
+
+const SDL_INIT_FLAGS = imguiz.SDL_INIT_VIDEO | imguiz.SDL_INIT_GAMEPAD;
+
+pub const SDLVulkanExtensions = struct {
+    allocator: std.mem.Allocator,
+    list: std.ArrayList([*:0]const u8),
+
+    pub fn deinit(self: *SDLVulkanExtensions) void {
+        for (self.list.items) |extension| {
+            self.allocator.free(std.mem.span(extension));
+        }
+        self.list.deinit(self.allocator);
+    }
+};
+
+/// Caller owns memory
+pub fn get_sdl_vulkan_extensions(allocator: std.mem.Allocator) !SDLVulkanExtensions {
+    try init();
+    defer imguiz.SDL_Quit();
+
+    var extensions = try std.ArrayList([*:0]const u8).initCapacity(allocator, 0);
+    var extensions_count: u32 = 0;
+    const sdl_extensions = imguiz.SDL_Vulkan_GetInstanceExtensions(&extensions_count);
+    if (sdl_extensions == null) {
+        return error.SDL_Vulkan_GetInstanceExtensionsFailure;
+    }
+    errdefer {
+        for (extensions.items) |extension| allocator.free(std.mem.span(extension));
+        extensions.deinit(allocator);
+    }
+    for (0..extensions_count) |i| {
+        const copied = try allocator.dupeZ(u8, std.mem.span(sdl_extensions[i]));
+        try extensions.append(allocator, copied);
+    }
+
+    return .{
+        .allocator = allocator,
+        .list = extensions,
+    };
+}
+
+/// If Linux, try Wayland, fallback to x11.
+pub fn init() !void {
+    if (util.isLinux()) {
+        if (try try_sdl_init_with_hint("wayland")) {
+            log.info("[sdl_init] using wayland", .{});
+            return;
+        }
+        if (try try_sdl_init_with_hint("x11")) {
+            log.info("[sdl_init] using x11", .{});
+            return;
+        }
+        return error.SDL_initFailure;
+    }
+
+    if (!imguiz.SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_FLAGS)) {
+        return error.SDL_initFailure;
+    }
+}
+
+fn try_sdl_init_with_hint(driver_name: [*:0]const u8) !bool {
+    _ = imguiz.SDL_SetHint(imguiz.SDL_HINT_VIDEO_DRIVER, driver_name);
+    if (!imguiz.SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_FLAGS)) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    const actual_driver = imguiz.SDL_GetCurrentVideoDriver() orelse {
+        imguiz.SDL_Quit();
+        return false;
+    };
+
+    if (std.mem.eql(u8, std.mem.span(actual_driver), std.mem.span(driver_name))) {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    imguiz.SDL_Quit();
+    return false;
+}
diff --git a/src/ui/ui.zig b/src/ui/ui.zig
index 88270ea..cf88d90 100644
--- a/src/ui/ui.zig
+++ b/src/ui/ui.zig
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ const std = @import("std");
 const c = @import("imguiz").imguiz;
 const vk = @import("vulkan");
 const rc = @import("zigrc");
+const util = @import("../util.zig");
+const sdl = @import("./sdl.zig");
 
 const CapturePreviewTexture = @import("../vulkan/capture_preview_texture.zig").CapturePreviewTexture;
 const StateActor = @import("../state_actor.zig").StateActor;
@@ -19,8 +21,6 @@ const HEIGHT = 1000;
 const MIN_IMAGE_COUNT = 2;
 var g_PipelineCache: c.VkPipelineCache = std.mem.zeroes(c.VkPipelineCache);
 
-const SDL_INIT_FLAGS = c.SDL_INIT_VIDEO | c.SDL_INIT_GAMEPAD;
-
 pub const UI = struct {
     const log = std.log.scoped(.ui);
     const Self = @This();
@@ -49,9 +49,7 @@ pub const UI = struct {
             .vulkan = vulkan,
         };
 
-        if (!c.SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_FLAGS)) {
-            return error.SDL_initFailure;
-        }
+        try sdl.init();
 
         const version = c.SDL_GetVersion();
         std.log.info("SDL version: {}\n", .{version});
@@ -101,22 +99,6 @@ pub const UI = struct {
         self.allocator.destroy(self);
     }
 
-    /// Caller owns memory
-    /// TODO: check why not returning "wayland"
-    pub fn getSDLVulkanExtensions(allocator: std.mem.Allocator) !std.ArrayList([*:0]const u8) {
-        if (!c.SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_FLAGS)) {
-            return error.SDL_initFailure;
-        }
-        defer c.SDL_Quit();
-
-        var extensions = try std.ArrayList([*:0]const u8).initCapacity(allocator, 0);
-        var extensions_count: u32 = 0;
-        const sdl_extensions = c.SDL_Vulkan_GetInstanceExtensions(&extensions_count);
-        for (0..extensions_count) |i| try extensions.append(allocator, std.mem.span(sdl_extensions[i]));
-
-        return extensions;
-    }
-
     fn initVulkan(self: *Self) !void {
         self.window = c.SDL_CreateWindow("Spacecap", WIDTH, HEIGHT, c.SDL_WINDOW_VULKAN | c.SDL_WINDOW_RESIZABLE | c.SDL_WINDOW_HIGH_PIXEL_DENSITY);
         if (self.window == null) return error.SDL_CreateWindowFailure;