OpenGL
 | |
 Video games outsource real-time rendering calculations to the GPU over OpenGL. The rendered results are not sent back to main memory, but to the framebuffer of video memory instead. The display controller will then send this data to the display device. | |
| Original author(s) | Silicon Graphics |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Khronos Group (formerly ARB) |
| Initial release | June 30, 1992 (1992-06-30) |
| Stable release | 4.6 / July 31, 2017 (2017-07-31) |
| Written in | C[1] |
| Type | 3D graphics API |
| License |
|
| Website | opengl.org |
Open Graphics Library (OpenGL)[3][4] is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardware-accelerated rendering.
Silicon Graphics Inc., (SGI) started developing OpenGL in 1991 and released it on June 30, 1992;[5][6] applications use it extensively in the fields of computer-aided design (CAD), virtual reality, scientific visualization, information visualization, flight simulation, and video games. Since 2006 OpenGL has been managed by the non-profit technology consortium Khronos Group.
Contents
1 Design
1.1 Development
2 Documentation
3 Associated libraries
3.1 Context and window toolkits
3.2 Extension loading libraries
3.3 Implementations
4 History
5 Version history
5.1 Overview
5.2 OpenGL 1.1
5.3 OpenGL 1.2
5.3.1 OpenGL 1.2.1
5.4 OpenGL 1.3
5.5 OpenGL 1.4
5.6 OpenGL 1.5
5.7 OpenGL 2.0
5.8 OpenGL 2.1
5.9 Longs Peak and OpenGL 3.0
5.10 OpenGL 3.0
5.11 OpenGL 3.1
5.12 OpenGL 3.2
5.13 OpenGL 3.3
5.14 OpenGL 4.0
5.15 OpenGL 4.1
5.16 OpenGL 4.2
5.17 OpenGL 4.3
5.18 OpenGL 4.4
5.19 OpenGL 4.5
5.20 OpenGL 4.6
6 Vulkan
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
Design
An illustration of the graphics pipeline process
The OpenGL specification describes an abstract API for drawing 2D and 3D graphics. Although it is possible for the API to be implemented entirely in software, it is designed to be implemented mostly or entirely in hardware.
The API is defined as a set of functions which may be called by the client program, alongside a set of named integer constants (for example, the constant GL_TEXTURE_2D, which corresponds to the decimal number 3553). Although the function definitions are superficially similar to those of the programming language C, they are language-independent. As such, OpenGL has many language bindings, some of the most noteworthy being the JavaScript binding WebGL (API, based on OpenGL ES 2.0, for 3D rendering from within a web browser); the C bindings WGL, GLX and CGL; the C binding provided by iOS; and the Java and C bindings provided by Android.
In addition to being language-independent, OpenGL is also cross-platform. The specification says nothing on the subject of obtaining, and managing an OpenGL context, leaving this as a detail of the underlying windowing system. For the same reason, OpenGL is purely concerned with rendering, providing no APIs related to input, audio, or windowing.
Development
OpenGL is an evolving API. New versions of the OpenGL specifications are regularly released by the Khronos Group, each of which extends the API to support various new features. The details of each version are decided by consensus between the Group's members, including graphics card manufacturers, operating system designers, and general technology companies such as Mozilla and Google.[7]
In addition to the features required by the core API, graphics processing unit (GPU) vendors may provide additional functionality in the form of extensions. Extensions may introduce new functions and new constants, and may relax or remove restrictions on existing OpenGL functions. Vendors can use extensions to expose custom APIs without needing support from other vendors or the Khronos Group as a whole, which greatly increases the flexibility of OpenGL. All extensions are collected in, and defined by, the OpenGL Registry.[8]
Each extension is associated with a short identifier, based on the name of the company which developed it. For example, Nvidia's identifier is NV, which is part of the extension name GL_NV_half_float, the constant GL_HALF_FLOAT_NV, and the function glVertex2hNV().[9] If multiple vendors agree to implement the same functionality using the same API, a shared extension may be released, using the identifier EXT. In such cases, it could also happen that the Khronos Group's Architecture Review Board gives the extension their explicit approval, in which case the identifier ARB is used.[10]
The features introduced by each new version of OpenGL are typically formed from the combined features of several widely implemented extensions, especially extensions of type ARB or EXT.
Documentation
OpenGL's popularity is partially due to the quality of its official documentation.[citation needed] The OpenGL Architecture Review Board released a series of manuals along with the specification which have been updated to track changes in the API. These are commonly referred to by the colors of their covers:
- The Red Book
- OpenGL Programming Guide, 8th Edition. ISBN 0-321-77303-9
- A tutorial and reference book.
- The Orange Book
- OpenGL Shading Language, 3rd edition. ISBN 0-321-63763-1
- A tutorial and reference book for GLSL.
Historic books (pre-OpenGL 2.0):
- The Green Book
- OpenGL Programming for the X Window System. ISBN 978-0-201-48359-8
- A book about X11 interfacing and OpenGL Utility Toolkit (GLUT).
- The Blue Book
- OpenGL Reference manual, 4th edition. ISBN 0-321-17383-X
- Essentially a hard-copy printout of the Unix manual (man) pages for OpenGL.
- Includes a poster-sized fold-out diagram showing the structure of an idealised OpenGL implementation.
- The Alpha Book (white cover)
- OpenGL Programming for Windows 95 and Windows NT. ISBN 0-201-40709-4
- A book about interfacing OpenGL with Microsoft Windows.
Associated libraries
The earliest versions of OpenGL were released with a companion library called the OpenGL Utility Library (GLU). It provided simple, useful features which were unlikely to be supported in contemporary hardware, such as tessellating, and generating mipmaps and primitive shapes. The GLU specification was last updated in 1998 and depends on OpenGL features which are now deprecated.
Context and window toolkits
Given that creating an OpenGL context is quite a complex process, and given that it varies between operating systems, automatic OpenGL context creation has become a common feature of several game-development and user-interface libraries, including SDL, Allegro, SFML, FLTK, and Qt. A few libraries have been designed solely to produce an OpenGL-capable window. The first such library was OpenGL Utility Toolkit (GLUT), later superseded by freeglut. GLFW is a newer alternative.[11]
- These toolkits are designed to create and manage OpenGL windows, and manage input, but little beyond that.[12]
GLFW – A cross-platform windowing and keyboard-mouse-joystick handler; is more game-oriented
freeglut – A cross-platform windowing and keyboard-mouse handler; its API is a superset of the GLUT API, and it is more stable and up to date than GLUT
OpenGL Utility Toolkit (GLUT) – An old windowing handler, no longer maintained.
- Several "multimedia libraries" can create OpenGL windows, in addition to input, sound and other tasks useful for game-like applications
Allegro 5 – A cross-platform multimedia library with a C API focused on game development
Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) – A cross-platform multimedia library with a C API
SFML – A cross-platform multimedia library with a C++ API and multiple other bindings to languages such as C#, Java, Haskell, and Go
- Widget toolkits
FLTK – A small cross-platform C++ widget library
Qt – A cross-platform C++ widget toolkit. It provides many OpenGL helper objects, which even abstract away the difference between desktop GL and OpenGL ES
wxWidgets – A cross-platform C++ widget toolkit
Extension loading libraries
Given the high workload involved in identifying and loading OpenGL extensions, a few libraries have been designed which load all available extensions and functions automatically. Examples include GLEE, GLEW and glbinding. Extensions are also loaded automatically by most language bindings, such as JOGL and PyOpenGL.
Implementations
Mesa 3D is an open-source implementation of OpenGL. It can do pure software rendering, and it may also use hardware acceleration on BSD, Linux, and other platforms by taking advantage of the Direct Rendering Infrastructure. As of version 13.0, it implements version 4.5 of the OpenGL standard.
History
In the 1980s, developing software that could function with a wide range of graphics hardware was a real challenge. Software developers wrote custom interfaces and drivers for each piece of hardware. This was expensive and resulted in multiplication of effort.
By the early 1990s, Silicon Graphics (SGI) was a leader in 3D graphics for workstations. Their IRIS GL API[13] was considered state-of-the-art[citation needed] and became the de facto industry standard, overshadowing the open standards-based PHIGS. This was because IRIS GL was considered easier to use, and because it supported immediate mode rendering. By contrast, PHIGS was considered difficult to use and outdated in functionality.
SGI's competitors (including Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and IBM) were also able to bring to market 3D hardware supported by extensions made to the PHIGS standard, which pressured SGI to open source a version of IrisGL as a public standard called OpenGL.
However, SGI had many customers for whom the change from IrisGL to OpenGL would demand significant investment. Moreover, IrisGL had API functions that were irrelevant to 3D graphics. For example, it included a windowing, keyboard and mouse API, in part because it was developed before the X Window System and Sun's NeWS. And, IrisGL libraries were unsuitable for opening due to licensing and patent issues[further explanation needed]. These factors required SGI to continue to support the advanced and proprietary Iris Inventor and Iris Performer programming APIs while market support for OpenGL matured.
One of the restrictions of IrisGL was that it only provided access to features supported by the underlying hardware. If the graphics hardware did not support a feature natively, then the application could not use it. OpenGL overcame this problem by providing software implementations of features unsupported by hardware, allowing applications to use advanced graphics on relatively low-powered systems. OpenGL standardized access to hardware, pushed the development responsibility of hardware interface programs (device drivers) to hardware manufacturers, and delegated windowing functions to the underlying operating system. With so many different kinds of graphics hardware, getting them all to speak the same language in this way had a remarkable impact by giving software developers a higher level platform for 3D-software development.
In 1992,[14] SGI led the creation of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (OpenGL ARB), the group of companies that would maintain and expand the OpenGL specification in the future.
In 1994, SGI played with the idea of releasing something called "OpenGL++" which included elements such as a scene-graph API (presumably based on their Performer technology). The specification was circulated among a few interested parties – but never turned into a product.[15]
Microsoft released Direct3D in 1995, which eventually became the main competitor of OpenGL. On December 17, 1997,[16] Microsoft and SGI initiated the Fahrenheit project, which was a joint effort with the goal of unifying the OpenGL and Direct3D interfaces (and adding a scene-graph API too). In 1998, Hewlett-Packard joined the project.[17] It initially showed some promise of bringing order to the world of interactive 3D computer graphics APIs, but on account of financial constraints at SGI, strategic reasons at Microsoft, and a general lack of industry support, it was abandoned in 1999.[18]
In July 2006, the OpenGL Architecture Review Board voted to transfer control of the OpenGL API standard to the Khronos Group.[19][20]
In June 2018, Apple deprecated OpenGL APIs on all of their platforms.[21]
Version history
The first version of OpenGL, version 1.0, was released on June 30, 1992 by Mark Segal and Kurt Akeley. Since then, OpenGL has occasionally been extended by releasing a new version of the specification. Such releases define a baseline set of features which all conforming graphics cards must support, and against which new extensions can more easily be written. Each new version of OpenGL tends to incorporate several extensions which have widespread support among graphics-card vendors, although the details of those extensions may be changed.
Overview
- OpenGL 1.1 - Texture objects
- OpenGL 1.2 - 3D textures, BGRA and packed pixel formats[22]
- OpenGL 1.3 - Multitexturing, multisampling, texture compression
- OpenGL 1.4 - Depth textures
- OpenGL 1.5 - Vertex Buffer Object (VBO), Occlusion Queries[23]
- OpenGL 2.0 - GLSL 1.1, MRT, Non Power of Two textures, Point Sprites,[24] Two-sided stencil[23]
- OpenGL 2.1 - GLSL 1.2, Pixel Buffer Object (PBO), sRGB Textures[23]
- OpenGL 3.0 - GLSL 1.3, Texture Arrays, Conditional rendering, Frame Buffer Object (FBO)[25]
- OpenGL 3.1 - GLSL 1.4, Instancing, Texture Buffer Object, Uniform Buffer Object, Primitive restart[26]
- OpenGL 3.2 - GLSL 1.5, Geometry Shader, Multi-sampled textures[27]
- OpenGL 3.3 - GLSL 3.30 Backports as much function as possible from the OpenGL 4.0 specification
- OpenGL 4.0 - GLSL 4.00 Tessellation on GPU, shaders with 64-bit precision,[28]
- OpenGL 4.1 - GLSL 4.10 Developer-friendly debug outputs, compatibility with OpenGL ES 2.0,[29]
- OpenGL 4.2 - GLSL 4.20 Shaders with atomic counters, draw transform feedback instanced, shader packing, performance improvements
- OpenGL 4.3 - GLSL 4.30 Compute shaders leveraging GPU parallelism, shader storage buffer objects, high-quality ETC2/EAC texture compression, increased memory security, a multi-application robustness extension, compatibility with OpenGL ES 3.0,[30]
- OpenGL 4.4 - GLSL 4.40 Buffer Placement Control, Efficient Asynchronous Queries, Shader Variable Layout, Efficient Multiple Object Binding, Streamlined Porting of Direct3D applications, Bindless Texture Extension, Sparse Texture Extension,[31]
- OpenGL 4.5 - GLSL 4.50 Direct State Access (DSA), Flush Control, Robustness, OpenGL ES 3.1 API and shader compatibility, DX11 emulation features
- OpenGL 4.6 - GLSL 4.60 More efficient geometry processing and shader execution, more information, no error context, polygon offset clamp, SPIR-V, anisotropic filtering
OpenGL 1.1
Release date: March 4, 1997
| Extension Name | Sort #Number | Details |
|---|---|---|
EXT_polygon_offset | Extension #3 | Depth values may be offset on a per-primitive basis |
EXT_texture | Extension #4 | Various texturing improvements, including proxy textures and sized internal formats |
EXT_subtexture EXT_copy_texture | Extension #9 Extension #10 | Various methods to alter texture images, including image copying and sub-image replacement |
EXT_texture_object | Extension #20 | Texture state may be stored in a GL object, for greater efficiency |
EXT_vertex_array | Extension #30 | Multiple vertices may be passed to the GL with one function call |
EXT_blend_logic_op | Extension #39 | Fragment colors may be blended into the framebuffer using bitwise operations |
OpenGL 1.2
Release date: March 16, 1998
One notable feature of OpenGL 1.2 was the introduction of the imaging subset. This is a set of features which are very useful to image-processing applications, but which have limited usefulness elsewhere. Implementation of this subset has always been optional; support is indicated by advertising the extension string ARB_imaging.
| Extension Name | Sort #Number | Details |
|---|---|---|
EXT_texture3D | Extension #6 | Three-dimensional texturing |
EXT_packed_pixels | Extension #23 | Pixel data may be packed into a larger primitive type; for example, all four components of an RGBA pixel may be specified as one 32-bit integer |
SGIS_texture_lod | Extension #24 | Gives greater control over the level-of-detail calculation used to select a texture's mipmap |
EXT_rescale_normal | Extension #27 | Normals may be automatically rescaled by the GL, which in some cases removes the need for a costly normalization |
SGIS_texture_edge_clamp | Extension #35 | A new texture-coordinate clamping mode which, unlike GL_CLAMP, will never sample from the texture's border |
EXT_draw_range_elements | Extension #112 | The DrawRangeElements function; a slightly faster alternative to DrawElements |
EXT_bgra | Extension #129 | Pixel data may be specified in BGR or BGRA order, to match the pixel format of Windows bitmaps |
EXT_separate_specular_color | Extension #144 | The GL's lighting abilities are extended to support texture-independent specular highlighting |
OpenGL 1.2.1
Release date: October 14, 1998
OpenGL 1.2.1 was a minor release, appearing only seven months after the release of version 1.2. It introduced the concept of ARB extensions, and defined the extension ARB_multitexture(in OpenGL 1.3 table), without yet incorporating it into the OpenGL core specification.
OpenGL 1.3
Release date: August 14, 2001
| Extension Name | Sort #Number | Details |
|---|---|---|
ARB_multitexture | in OpenGL 1.2.1 integrated | Color values from several textures at once may be blended onto one fragment |
ARB_transpose_matrix | ARB Extension #3 | Transformation matrices may be specified in either order: row-major or column-major |
ARB_multisample | ARB Extension #5 | A standard framework upon which multisample anti-aliasing may be supported, without needing other MSAA support |
ARB_texture_cube_map | ARB Extension #7 | Cube-mapped texturing. |
ARB_texture_env_add ARB_texture_env_combine ARB_texture_env_dot3 | ARB Extension #6 ARB Extension #17 ARB Extension #19 | Several new "texture environment functions": mechanisms for blending texture colors onto fragment colors |
ARB_texture_compression | ARB Extension #12 | A standard framework on which compressed texture formats may be supported, without needing other compression support |
ARB_texture_border_clamp | ARB Extension #13 | A new texture-coordinate clamping mode which forces out-of-bounds texture coordinates to sample from a texture's border |
OpenGL 1.4
Release date: July 24, 2002
| Extension Name | Sort #Number | Details |
|---|---|---|
SGIS_generate_mipmap | Extension 32 | Texture mipmaps may be generated automatically by the GL |
EXT_blend_color EXT_blend_subtract | Extension #2 Extension #38 | Various ways to customize the blend equation, promoted from the optional imaging subset (introduced in version 1.2) to the core specification |
EXT_blend_minmax | OpenGL Extension #37 | also OpenGL ES Extension #65, Blending capability is extended by respecifying the entire blend equation. |
EXT_secondary_color | Extension #145 | The "secondary color" mechanism defined by EXT_separate_specular_color may be used in all circumstances, even with lighting disabled |
EXT_multi_draw_arrays | Extension #148 | A set of APIs which emulate multiple calls to DrawArrays or DrawElements, in one function call; in some cases, this may be more efficient |
EXT_fog_coord | Extension #149 | A way to customize the fog intensity per vertex |
EXT_blend_func_separate | Extension #173 | Separate blending functions may be specified for the RGB and Alpha components of the blended pixels |
EXT_stencil_wrap | Extension #176 | A stencil mode which causes stencil values to increment with wrapping |
EXT_texture_lod_bias | OpenGL Extension #186 | also OpenGL ES Extension #60, A means to bias computing mipmap weights to add blur or sharpening effects to texture filtering |
NV_blend_square | Extension 194 | RGB and Alpha values may be squared during alpha-blending |
ARB_point_parameters | ARB Extension #14 | Greater control over rasterizing point primitives |
ARB_texture_env_crossbar | ARB Extension #18 | Texture environment functions may access all other texture stages, rather than being restricted to the texture bound to their own texture unit |
ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat | ARB Extension #21 | A new texture-coording wrapping mode which causes the texture image to be horizontally or vertically mirrored |
ARB_depth_texture ARB_shadow | ARB Extension #22 ARB Extension #23 | Textures which store depth values, rather than color values; such textures are useful for shadow-casting and displacement maps |
ARB_window_pos | ARB Extension #25 | The WindowPos API, an alternative to RasterPos which sets the raster-output position in screen space rather than world space |
OpenGL 1.5
Release date: July 29, 2003
Alongside the release of OpenGL 1.5, the ARB released the OpenGL Shading Language specification, and the extensions ARB_shader_objects, ARB_vertex_shader, and ARB_fragment_shader. However, these would not be incorporated into the core specification until the next release.
| Extension Name | Sort #Number | Details |
|---|---|---|
ARB_vertex_buffer_object | ARB Extension #28 | A new type of GL object, the "buffer", which stores various types of data (especially vertex data) in fast video memory |
ARB_occlusion_query | ARB Extension #29 | The programmer may query whether or not a primitive was occluded during rendering |
EXT_shadow_funcs | Extension #267 | The abilities of the ARB_shadow extension are slightly extended |
OpenGL 2.0
Release date: September 7, 2004
OpenGL 2.0 was originally conceived by 3Dlabs to address concerns that OpenGL was stagnating and lacked a strong direction.[32] 3Dlabs proposed a number of major additions to the standard. Most of these were, at the time, rejected by the ARB or otherwise never came to fruition in the form that 3Dlabs proposed. However, their proposal for a C-style shading language was eventually completed, resulting in the current formulation of the OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL or GLslang). Like the assembly-like shading languages it was replacing, it allowed replacing the fixed-function vertex and fragment pipe with shaders, though this time written in a C-like high-level language.
The design of GLSL was notable for making relatively few concessions to the limits of the hardware then available. This hearkened back to the earlier tradition of OpenGL setting an ambitious, forward-looking target for 3D accelerators rather than merely tracking the state of currently available hardware. The final OpenGL 2.0 specification[33] includes support for GLSL.
| Extension Name | Sort #Number | Details |
|---|---|---|
ARB_shader_objects ARB_vertex_shader ARB_fragment_shader ARB_shading_language_100 | ARB Extension #30 ARB Extension #31 ARB Extension #32 ARB Extension #33 | All ARBs here heavily modified. The high-level OpenGL Shading Language, which provides direct access to programmable vertex and fragment processors |
ARB_texture_non_power_of_two | ARB Extension #34 | Texture images may have non-power-of-two dimensions |
ARB_point_sprite | ARB Extension #35 | Points may be rendered as small, screen-oriented texture quads; useful when developing particle systems |
ARB_draw_buffers | ARB Extension #37 | Fragment shaders may output different colors to multiple render-targets in one pass; support for multiple render-targets would not be guaranteed until OpenGL 3.0 |
EXT_stencil_two_side ATI_separate_stencil | Extension #268 Extension #289 | Separate stencil algorithms may be used when rendering the front and back faces of primitives |
EXT_blend_equation_separate | Extension #299 | Separate blending equations may be specified for the RGB and Alpha components of the blended pixels, similar to EXT_blend_func_separate |
OpenGL 2.1
Release date: July 2, 2006
OpenGL 2.1 required implementations to support version 1.20 of the OpenGL Shading Language.
| Extension Name | Sort #Number | Details |
|---|---|---|
ARB_pixel_buffer_object | ARB Extension #42 | Buffer objects may be used for asynchronous transfers of image data. |
EXT_texture_sRGB | Extension #315 | Texture pixel values may be specified in the gamma-corrected sRGB color space |
Longs Peak and OpenGL 3.0
Before the release of OpenGL 3.0, the new revision had the codename Longs Peak. At the time of its original announcement, Longs Peak was presented as the first major API revision in OpenGL's lifetime. It consisted of an overhaul to the way that OpenGL works, calling for fundamental changes to the API.
The draft introduced a change to object management. The GL 2.1 object model was built upon the state-based design of OpenGL. That is, to modify an object or to use it, one needs to bind the object to the state system, then make modifications to the state or perform function calls that use the bound object.
Because of OpenGL's use of a state system, objects must be mutable. That is, the basic structure of an object can change at any time, even if the rendering pipeline is asynchronously using that object. A texture object can be redefined from 2D to 3D. This requires any OpenGL implementations to add a degree of complexity to internal object management.
Under the Longs Peak API, object creation would become atomic, using templates to define the properties of an object which would be created with one function call. The object could then be used immediately across multiple threads. Objects would also be immutable; however, they could have their contents changed and updated. For example, a texture could change its image, but its size and format could not be changed.
To support backwards compatibility, the old state based API would still be available, but no new functionality would be exposed via the old API in later versions of OpenGL. This would have allowed legacy code bases, such as the majority of CAD products, to continue to run while other software could be written against or ported to the new API.
Longs Peak was initially due to be finalized in September 2007 under the name OpenGL 3.0, but the Khronos Group announced on October 30 that it had run into several issues that it wished to address before releasing the specification.[34] As a result, the spec was delayed, and the Khronos Group went into a media blackout until the release of the final OpenGL 3.0 spec.
The final specification proved far less revolutionary than the Longs Peak proposal. Instead of removing all immediate mode and fixed functionality (non-shader mode), the spec included them as deprecated features. The proposed object model was not included, and no plans have been announced to include it in any future revisions. As a result, the API remained largely the same with a few existing extensions being promoted to core functionality.
Among some developer groups this decision caused something of an uproar,[35] with many developers professing that they would switch to DirectX in protest. Most complaints revolved around the lack of communication by Khronos to the development community and multiple features being discarded that were viewed favorably by many. Other frustrations included the requirement of DirectX 10 level hardware to use OpenGL 3.0 and the absence of geometry shaders and instanced rendering as core features.
Other sources reported that the community reaction was not quite as severe as originally presented,[36] with many vendors showing support for the update.[37][38]
OpenGL 3.0
Release date: August 11, 2008
OpenGL 3.0 introduced a deprecation mechanism to simplify future revisions of the API. Certain features, marked as deprecated, could be completely disabled by requesting a forward-compatible context from the windowing system. OpenGL 3.0 features could still be accessed alongside these deprecated features, however, by requesting a full context.
Deprecated features include:
- All fixed-function vertex and fragment processing
- Direct-mode rendering, using glBegin and glEnd
- Display lists
- Indexed-color rendering targets
OpenGL Shading Language versions 1.10 and 1.20
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
EXT_gpu_shader4 | Extension #326, API functions required by version 1.30 of the OpenGL Shading Language |
ARB_color_buffer_float | ARB Extension #39 |
ARB_half_float_pixel | ARB Extension #40, interacts with ARB_color_buffer_float. Based on the NV_half_float extension (OpenGL Extension #283). Half-float (16-bit) vertex array and pixel data formats |
ARB_texture_float | ARB Extension #41, ARB_color_buffer_float, EXT_packed_depth_stencil, ARB_framebuffer_object is required. This extension modifies EXT_depth_bounds_test and NV_copy_depth_to_color. |
ARB_depth_buffer_float | ARB Extension #43 |
ARB_framebuffer_object | ARB Extension #45, see also EXT_framebuffer_object |
ARB_half_float_vertex | ARB Extension #48, Based on the NV_half_float and OES_vertex_half_float extensions. |
ARB_map_buffer_range | ARB Extension #50, Mapping of buffer subranges into client space and flushing modified data |
ARB_texture_rg | ARB Extension #53 |
ARB_vertex_array_object | ARB Extension #54, A new type of GL object, the "vertex array object", which stores a set of bindings to vertex arrays; this allows such arrays to be rebound with one function call rather than several calls to EnableVertexAttribArray, VertexAttribPointer, etc. |
GLX_ARB_create_context | ARB Extension #56 (GLX_ARB_create_context), ARB Extension #75 (GLX_ARB_create_context_profile) |
ARB_framebuffer_object | ARB Extension #45, see also EXT_framebuffer_object |
NV_half_float | Extension #283, This extension introduces a new storage format and data type for half-precision (16-bit) floating-point quantities. |
EXT_framebuffer_object | Extension #310, A new type of GL object, the "framebuffer"; these enable rendering offscreen and to textures |
EXT_packed_depth_stencil | Extension #312, EXT_framebuffer_object are required. Packed depth/stencil internal formats for combined depth+stencil textures and renderbuffers |
EXT_framebuffer_blit EXT_framebuffer_multisample | Extension #316,#317, Functions to perform a fast bit blit between render-targets |
EXT_packed_float | Extension #328, This extension adds a new 3-component floating-point texture format that fits within a single 32-bit word. |
EXT_texture_array | Extension #329, interacts with EXT_framebuffer_object, NV_geometry_program4, NV_gpu_program4, EXT_texture_compression_s3tc and NV_texture_compression_vtc. One- and two-dimensional layered texture targets |
EXT_texture_compression_rgtc | OpenGL Extension #332, OpenGL ES Extension #286, The RGTC texture-compression format, for compressing one or two-channels of image data |
EXT_texture_shared_exponent | Extension #333 |
NV_depth_buffer_float | Extension #334, ARB_color_buffer_float is required. This extension provides new texture internal formats whose depth components are stored as 32-bit floating-point values. |
EXT_framebuffer_sRGB | Extension #337, Use of the sRGB gamma-corrected image data in framebuffers |
EXT_draw_buffers2 | Extension #340, Per-color-attachment blend enables and color writemasks |
EXT_texture_integer | Extension #343, NV_gpu_program4 or EXT_gpu_shader4 is required. Support for floating-point and non-normalized integer texture storage |
NV_conditional_render | OpenGL Extension #346, OpenGL ES Extension #198, Conditional rendering, based on the results of an occlusion query |
EXT_transform_feedback | Extension #352, ARB_shader_objects extension is required. The results of vertex processing can be captured into buffers, rather than (or in addition to) being passed to the rest of the pipeline |
OpenGL 3.1
Release date: March 24, 2009
OpenGL 3.1 fully removed all of the features which were deprecated in version 3.0, with the exception of wide lines. From this version onwards, it's not possible to access new features using a full context, or to access deprecated features using a forward-compatible context. An exception to the former rule is made if the implementation supports the ARB_compatibility extension, but this is not guaranteed.
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_texture_rectangle | ARB Extension #38, Rectangular textures |
ARB_draw_instanced | ARB Extension #44, EXT_gpu_shader4 or NV_vertex_program4 is required. Instanced rendering: the ability to quickly render the same geometry data multiple times, with the vertex shader being given information specifying the instance it is operating on |
ARB_texture_buffer_object | ARB Extension #51, NV_gpu_program4 or EXT_gpu_shader4 is required. Buffer textures: one-dimensional textures, where the pixel data store comes from a buffer object |
ARB_uniform_buffer_object | ARB Extension #57, ARB_vertex_buffer_object is required. This extension interacts with ARB_geometry_shader4, ARB_texture_rectangle, EXT_gpu_shader4, EXT_texture_array, EXT_texture_integer, and EXT_texture_buffer_object. The ability to store a set of shader parameters in a buffer object |
ARB_copy_buffer | ARB Extension #59, A mechanism to copy data directly between buffer objects |
NV_primitive_restart | Extension Number 285, The ability to specify that an index restarts a primitive, so that objects can be called with fewer calls to DrawElements |
EXT_texture_snorm | Extension Number 365 |
OpenGL 3.2
Release date: August 3, 2009
OpenGL 3.2 further built on the deprecation mechanisms introduced by OpenGL 3.0, by dividing the specification into a core profile and compatibility profile. Compatibility contexts include the previously-removed fixed-function APIs, equivalent to the ARB_compatibility extension released alongside OpenGL 3.1, while core contexts do not. OpenGL 3.2 also included an upgrade to GLSL version 1.50.
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_geometry_shader4 (heavily modified) | ARB Extension #47 (NVIDIA Revision: 26), interacts with EXT_framebuffer_object, EXT_framebuffer_blit, EXT_texture_array, ARB_tranform_feedback, ARB_uniform_buffer_object. Geometry shaders |
ARB_depth_clamp | ARB Extension #61, The developer may configure whether or not triangles are clipped against the near/far Z range |
ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex | ARB Extension #62, interacts with ARB_draw_instanced, EXT_draw_instanced, ARB_instanced_arrays, ARB_compatibility. The DrawElements API is extended to automatically add a numerical offset (the base vertex) to each array index |
ARB_fragment_coord_conventions | ARB Extension #63, interacts with ARB_fragment_program, ARB_fragment_shader, NV_fragment_program, NV_fragment_program_option, NV_fragment_program2, NV_fragment_program4. Allow fragment shaders to read fragment coordinate locations in the same conventions as Direct3D |
ARB_provoking_vertex | ARB Extension #64, ARB_geometry_shader4, EXT_geometry_shader4, NV_geometry_shader4 and NV_gpu_program4 interact with this extension. The developer may configure which vertex determines the properties for flat-shaded vertex components |
ARB_seamless_cube_map | ARB Extension #65, ARB_texture_cube_map is required. Forces blending between different faces when sampling from a cube map |
ARB_sync | ARB Extension #66, A set of GL objects representing synchronization primitives, which allow the client to detect when a specific set of tasks has completed |
ARB_texture_multisample | ARB Extension #67, A new type of texture, which can be used as a multisampled render target |
ARB_vertex_array_bgra | ARB Extension #68, interacts with EXT_vertex_array, EXT_secondary_color, NV_vertex_program, ARB_vertex_program, ARB_vertex_shader. Per-vertex color data may be specified in BGRA order, matching the convention used by Direct3D |
OpenGL 3.3
Release date: March 11, 2010
OpenGL 3.3 was released alongside version 4.0. It was designed to target hardware able to support Direct3D 10.
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_instanced_arrays | ARB Extension #49, EXT_direct_state_access interaction added with revision 7. When performing instanced rendering, instances may be configured using per-instance vertex attributes rather than using a vertex shader parameter to access an array |
ARB_blend_func_extended | ARB Extension #78, required ARB_fragment_shader, EXT_gpu_shader4, interacts with EXT_blend_func_separate. Fragment shaders can output multiple colors that can be used in one Alpha blending operation |
ARB_explicit_attrib_location | ARB Extension #79, Requires GL_ARB_vertex_shader, interacts with GL_ARB_blend_func_extended, GL_ARB_separate_shader_objects, GL_ARB_gpu_shader_fp64, Shader inputs and outputs may be assigned resource locations in the shader |
ARB_occlusion_query2 | ARB Extension #80, ARB_occlusion_query interacts with this extension, The occlusion-query system is extended to support querying whether entire objects were occluded, rather than querying the exact number of occluded pixels; in some cases, this may be more efficient |
ARB_sampler_objects | ARB Extension #81, interacts with EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic, A new GL object which wraps some texture object state, such as interpolation and clamping; allows one texture to be simultaneously accessed in multiple ways |
ARB_shader_bit_encoding | ARB Extension #82, This extension is based on ARB_gpu_shader5. Adds shading language functions to perform conversions from/to floating-point and integers; this extension only affects the shading language |
ARB_texture_rgb10_a2ui | ARB Extension #83, Requires EXT_texture_integer. Image and vertex data may be specified by packing three 10-bit normalized integer values into one 32-bit integer |
ARB_texture_swizzle | ARB Extension #84, Allows configuring the order in which components in a texture are presented to a shader when it samples them |
ARB_timer_query | ARB Extension #85, Functions to accurately measure the time taken by an operation; information useful for profiling purposes |
ARB_vertex_type_2_10_10_10_rev | ARB Extension #86, trivially interacts with the OES_vertex_type_10_10_10_2 and interacts with the EXT_vertex_array_bgra extension. |
OpenGL 4.0
Release date: March 11, 2010
OpenGL 4.0 was released alongside version 3.3. It was designed for hardware able to support Direct3D 11.
As in OpenGL 3.0, this version of OpenGL contains a high number of fairly inconsequential extensions, designed to thoroughly expose the abilities of Direct3D 11-class hardware. Only the most influential extensions are listed below.
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_draw_buffers_blend | ARB Extension #69, The ability to set individual blend equations and blend functions for each color output |
ARB_sample_shading | ARB Extension #70, Allows requesting that a fragment program is evaluated for each sample within a fragment, which increases the fidelity of multisampled anti-aliasing |
ARB_texture_cube_map_array | ARB Extension #71 |
ARB_texture_gather | ARB Extension #72 |
ARB_texture_query_lod | ARB Extension #73 |
ARB_draw_indirect | ARB Extension #87, A mechanism to supply the arguments to certain Draw functions from buffer-object memory, combined with transform feedback or OpenCL, this allows GPUs to render without synchronising with CPUs |
ARB_gpu_shader5 | ARB Extension #88, interacts with ARB_gpu_shader_fp64, NV_gpu_shader5, ARB_sample_shading, ARB_texture_gather |
ARB_gpu_shader_fp64 | ARB Extension #89, interacts with EXT_direct_state_access, NV_shader_buffer_load |
ARB_shader_subroutine | ARB Extension #90, The ability to call different subroutines within a shader dynamically, without recompiling the source |
ARB_tessellation_shader | ARB Extension #91, Two new shader stages (tessellation-control and tessellation-evaluation) to support efficient geometry generation on GPUs |
ARB_texture_buffer_object_rgb32 | ARB Extension #92 |
ARB_transform_feedback2 | ARB Extension #93, A set of improvements to EXT_transform_feedback |
ARB_transform_feedback3 | ARB Extension #94 |
Hardware support: Nvidia GeForce 400 series and newer, AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and newer (FP64 shaders implemented by emulation on some TeraScale GPUs), Intel HD Graphics in Intel Ivy Bridge processors and newer.[39]
OpenGL 4.1
Release date: July 26, 2010
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_ES2_compatibility | ARB Extension #95, Full API compatibility with OpenGL ES 2.0, interacts with ARB_tessellation_shader |
ARB_get_program_binary | ARB Extension #96, The ability to retrieve the content of program objects in a binary, vendor-specific format; eliminates the need to recompile shaders whenever the program is run, but the resulting binaries are not transferable between GPUs |
ARB_separate_shader_objects | ARB Extension #97, Program objects may be separately associated with each of the five shading stages, instead of using separate shader stages linked into a monolithic program object; the extension also introduces glProgramUniform, which accepts a program object as parameter, thus enabling direct access to program's uniforms |
ARB_shader_precision | ARB Extension #98, The ability to specify the precision of certain operations in the shading language |
ARB_vertex_attrib_64bit | ARB Extension #99, Vertex attributes can be double-precision values |
ARB_viewport_array | ARB Extension #100, The ability to define multiple viewports and scissor rectangles, to be used when generating several scenes at once from a geometry shader |
Hardware support: Nvidia GeForce 400 series and newer, AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and newer (FP64 shaders implemented by emulation on some TeraScale GPUs), Intel HD Graphics in Intel Ivy Bridge processors and newer.[39]
- Minimum "maximum texture size" is 16,384 × 16,384 for GPU's implementing this specification.[40]
OpenGL 4.2
Release date: August 8, 2011[41]
- Support for shaders with atomic counters and load-store-atomic read-modify-write operations to one level of a texture
- Drawing multiple instances of data captured from GPU vertex processing (including tessellation), to enable complex objects to be efficiently repositioned and replicated
- Support for modifying an arbitrary subset of a compressed texture, without having to re-download the whole texture to the GPU for significant performance improvements
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_texture_compression_bptc | ARB Extension #77, ARB_texture_compression required |
ARB_compressed_texture_pixel_storage | ARB Extension #110 |
ARB_shader_atomic_counters | ARB Extension #114 |
ARB_texture_storage | ARB Extension #117, some textures required |
ARB_transform_feedback_instanced | ARB Extension #109, ARB_transform_feedback2 extension, ARB_draw_instanced extension required, interacts with the ARB_transform_feedback3 extension |
ARB_base_instance | ARB Extension #107, ARB_draw_instanced required |
ARB_shader_image_load_store | ARB Extension #115, interacts with ARB_separate_shader_objects, EXT_shader_image_load_store and some others trivially |
ARB_conservative_depth | ARB Extension #111 |
ARB_shading_language_420pack | ARB Extension #108 |
ARB_internalformat_query | ARB Extension #112, ARB_texture_multisample affects the definition of this extension |
ARB_map_buffer_alignment | ARB Extension #113 |
ARB_shading_language_packing | ARB Extension #116 |
Hardware support: Nvidia GeForce 400 series and newer, AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and newer (FP64 shaders implemented by emulation on some TeraScale GPUs), and Intel HD Graphics in Intel Haswell processors and newer.[39] (Linux Mesa: Ivy Bridge and newer)
OpenGL 4.3
Release date: August 6, 2012[42]
Compute shaders leveraging GPU parallelism within the context of the graphics pipeline- Shader storage buffer objects, allowing shaders to read and write buffer objects like image load/store from 4.2, but through the language rather than function calls.
- Image format parameter queries
ETC2/EAC texture compression as a standard feature- Full compatibility with OpenGL ES 3.0 APIs
- Debug abilities to receive debugging messages during application development
- Texture views to interpret textures in different ways without data replication
- Increased memory security and multi-application robustness
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
KHR_debug | ARB Extension #119, OpenGL ES Extension #118 |
ARB_arrays_of_arrays | ARB Extension #120 |
ARB_clear_buffer_object | ARB Extension #121 |
ARB_compute_shader | ARB Extension #122, interacts ARB_shader_storage_buffer_object, NV_vertex_buffer_unified_memory |
ARB_copy_image | ARB Extension #123, interacts ARB_texture_view, EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, ARB_texture_compression_rgtc, ARB_texture_compression_bptc |
ARB_texture_view | ARB Extension #124, ARB_texture_storage required, interacts with ARB_internalformat_query2, EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, EXT_texture_sRGB, ARB_texture_storage_multisample |
ARB_vertex_attrib_binding | ARB Extension #125, EXT_direct_state_access interacton added with revision 3 |
ARB_ES3_compatibility | ARB Extension #127, OpenGL 3.3, ARB_ES2_compatibility, ARB_invalidate_subdata, and ARB_texture_storage are required, ETC2 and EAC texture compression formats added to OpenGL-ES 3.0, |
ARB_explicit_uniform_location | ARB Extension #128, Requires ARB_explicit_attrib_location, interacts with ARB_shader_subroutine |
ARB_fragment_layer_viewport | ARB Extension #129, interacts with NV_gpu_program4 |
ARB_framebuffer_no_attachments | ARB Extension #130, ARB_framebuffer_object is required, interacts EXT_texture_array and EXT_direct_state_access |
ARB_internalformat_query2 | ARB Extension #131, ARB_internalformat_query required |
ARB_invalidate_subdata | ARB Extension #132 |
ARB_multi_draw_indirect | ARB Extension #133, ARB_draw_indirect required |
ARB_program_interface_query | ARB Extension #134 |
ARB_robust_buffer_access_behavior | ARB Extension #135 |
ARB_shader_image_size | ARB Extension #136, interacts with NV_gpu_program5 and EXT_shader_image_load_store |
ARB_shader_storage_buffer_object | ARB Extension #137, ARB_program_interface_query required, interacts with ARB_compute_shader, ARB_program_interface_query, NV_bindless_texture |
ARB_stencil_texturing | ARB Extension #138, ARB_depth_texture and EXT_packed_depth_stencil required |
ARB_texture_buffer_range | ARB Extension #139, ARB_texture_buffer_object required |
ARB_texture_query_levels | ARB Extension #140 |
ARB_texture_storage_multisample | ARB Extension #141, ARB_texture_storage is required |
Hardware support: Nvidia GeForce 400 series and newer, AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and newer (FP64 shaders implemented by emulation on some TeraScale GPUs), Intel HD Graphics in Intel Haswell processors and newer.[39]
OpenGL 4.4
Release date: July 22, 2013[31]
- Enforced buffer object usage controls
- Asynchronous queries into buffer objects
- Expression of more layout controls of interface variables in shaders
- Efficient binding of multiple objects simultaneously
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_buffer_storage | ARB Extension #144 |
ARB_clear_texture | ARB Extension #145, with EXT_texture_integer, ARB_texture_buffer_object, ARB_texture_multisample, ARB_depth_texture, EXT_packed_depth_stencil and ARB_framebuffer_object, ARB_texture_stencil8, ARB_shader_image_load_store, ARB_internalformat_query2 |
ARB_enhanced_layouts | ARB Extension #146, interacts ARB_explicit_attrib_location, ARB_vertex_attrib_64bit, ARB_transform_feedback3, ARB_separate_shader_objects, ARB_shader_storage_buffer_object, ARB_program_interface_query |
ARB_multi_bind | ARB Extension #147, interacts with ARB_sampler_objects, ARB_vertex_attrib_binding |
ARB_query_buffer_object | ARB Extension #148 |
ARB_texture_mirror_clamp_to_edge | ARB Extension #149, interacts with EXT_texture3D, ARB_texture_rectangle, ARB_sampler_objects |
ARB_texture_stencil8 | ARB Extension #150 |
ARB_vertex_type_10f_11f_11f_rev | ARB Extension #151, depends on ARB_vertex_attrib_binding, requires ARB_vertex_type_2_10_10_10_rev |
Hardware support: Nvidia GeForce 400 series and newer, AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and newer (FP64 shaders implemented by emulation on some TeraScale GPUs), Intel HD Graphics in Intel Broadwell processors and newer (Linux Mesa: Haswell and newer),[43]Tegra K1.
OpenGL 4.5
Release date: August 11, 2014[8][44]
- Direct State Access (DSA) – object accessors enable state to be queried and modified without binding objects to contexts, for increased application and middleware efficiency and flexibility.[45]
- Flush Control – applications can control flushing of pending commands before context switching – enabling high-performance multithreaded applications;
- Robustness – providing a secure platform for applications such as WebGL browsers, including preventing a GPU reset affecting any other running applications;
- OpenGL ES 3.1 API and shader compatibility – to enable the easy development and execution of the latest OpenGL ES applications on desktop systems.
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_ES3_1_compatibility | ARB Extension #159, required OpenGL 4.4, ARB_ES2_compatibility, ARB_ES3_compatibility |
ARB_clip_control | ARB Extension #160, |
ARB_conditional_render_inverted | ARB Extension #161 |
ARB_cull_distance | ARB Extension #162 |
ARB_derivative_control | ARB Extension #163 |
ARB_direct_state_access | ARB Extension #164 |
ARB_get_texture_sub_image | ARB Extension #165 |
ARB_shader_texture_image_samples | ARB Extension #166, ARB_texture_multisample required, interacts with ARB_shader_image_load_store and GLSL 4.20, NV_gpu_program5, EXT_shader_image_load_store and NV_texture_multisample |
ARB_texture_barrier | ARB Extension #167 |
KHR_context_flush_control | ARB Extension #168, OpenGL ES Extension #191 (for GL_KHR_context_flush_control only), EGL Extension #102 (for EGL_KHR_context_flush_control only) |
KHR_robustness | ARB Extension #170, OpenGL ES Extension #190 |
EXT_shader_integer_mix | OpenGL Extension #437, OpenGL ES Extension #161 |
Hardware support: Nvidia GeForce 400 series and newer, AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and newer (FP64 shaders implemented by emulation on some TeraScale GPUs), Intel HD Graphics in Intel Broadwell processors and newer (Linux Mesa: Haswell and newer), Tegra K1, and Tegra X1.[46][47]
OpenGL 4.6
Release date: July 31, 2017[8][48]
- more efficient, GPU-sided, geometry processing
- more efficient shader execution (AZDO)
- more information through statistics, overflow query and counters
- higher performance through no error handling contexts
clamping of polygon offset function, solves a shadow rendering problem
SPIR-V shaders- Anisotropic filtering
| Extension | Details |
|---|---|
ARB_indirect_parameters | ARB Extension #154, |
ARB_shader_draw_parameters | ARB Extension #156, |
ARB_shader_group_vote | ARB Extension #157, ARB_compute_shader required |
ARB_pipeline_statistics_query | ARB Extension #171, interacts with AMD_transform_feedback4 |
ARB_transform_feedback_overflow_query | ARB Extension #173 |
KHR_no_error | ARB Extension #175, OpenGL ES Extension #243 |
ARB_shader_atomic_counter_ops | ARB Extension #182, ARB_shader_atomic_counters required |
ARB_gl_spirv | ARB Extension #190, interacts with ARB_parallel_shader_compile, ARB_separate_shader_objects, ARB_program_interface_query |
ARB_polygon_offset_clamp | ARB Extension #193 |
ARB_spirv_extensions | ARB Extension #194, requires ARB_gl_spirv, interacts with ARB_shader_ballot and SPV_KHR_shader_ballot, ARB_shader_draw_parameters and SPV_KHR_shader_draw_parameters, ARB_shader_group_vote and SPV_KHR_subgroup_vote, NV_stereo_view_rendering and SPV_NV_stereo_view_rendering, NV_viewport_array2 and SPV_NV_viewport_array2, ARB_shader_viewport_layer_array and SPV_NV_viewport_array2, NV_geometry_shader_passthrough and SPV_NV_geometry_shader_passthrough, NV_sample_mask_override_coverage and SPV_NV_sample_mask_override_coverage, AMD_shader_explicit_vertex_parameter and SPV_AMD_shader_explicit_vertex_parameter, AMD_gpu_shader_half_float and SPV_AMD_gpu_shader_half_float, ARB_shader_atomic_counter_ops and SPV_KHR_shader_atomic_counter_ops, ARB_post_depth_coverage, EXT_post_depth_coverage and SPV_KHR_post_depth_coverage, SPV_KHR_storage_buffer_storage_class |
ARB_texture_filter_anisotropic | ARB Extension #195 |
Hardware support: Nvidia GeForce 400 series and newer, Intel Haswell and newer, AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and newer (FP64 shaders implemented by emulation on some TeraScale GPUs).
Driver support:
Mesa on Linux mostly supports OpenGL 4.6 by Mesa 18.0 for Intel Haswell+, AMD Radeon GCN, Nvidia Kepler+ 9 of 11 ARBs, Target full Support for the 18.1 release. Actual new Mesa 18.0: 26 other ARBs with some candidates for OpenGL 4.7 about 65% developed and other 35% in Development Plan (mesamatrix.net)
NVIDIA GeForce 397.31 Graphics Driver on Windows 7, 8, 10 X86-64 bit only, no 32-bit support. Released April 2018[49]
AMD Adrenalin 18.4.1 Graphics Driver on Windows 7 SP1, 10 version 1803 (April 2018 update) for AMD Radeon™ HD 7700+, HD 8500+ and newer. Released April 2018.[50][51]
Vulkan
Vulkan, formerly named the "Next Generation OpenGL Initiative" (glNext),[52][53] is a grounds-up redesign effort to unify OpenGL and OpenGL ES into one common API that will not be backwards compatible with existing OpenGL versions.[54][55][56]
The initial version of Vulkan API was released on 16 February 2016.
See also
ARB assembly language – OpenGL's legacy low-level shading language- Comparison of OpenGL and Direct3D
Direct3D - main competitor of OpenGL
Glide API – a graphics API once used on 3dfx Voodoo cards- List of OpenGL programs
Metal (API) - Graphics API for iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS
OpenAL – Cross-platform audio library, designed to resemble OpenGL
OpenGL ES – OpenGL for embedded systems
OpenSL ES – API for audio on embedded systems, developed by the Khronos Group
OpenVG – API for accelerated 2D graphics, developed by the Khronos Group
RenderMan Interface Specification (RISpec) – Pixar's open API for photorealistic off-line rendering
VOGL – a debugger for OpenGL
Vulkan – low-overhead, cross-platform 2D and 3D graphics API, the "next generation OpenGL initiative"- Graphics pipeline
- WebGPU
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Further reading
Shreiner, Dave; Sellers, Graham; et al. (30 March 2013). OpenGL Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL. Version 4.3 (8th ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-77303-6.
Sellers, Graham; Wright, Richard S.; Haemel, Nicholas (31 July 2013). OpenGL SuperBible: Comprehensive Tutorial and Reference (6th ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-90294-8.
Rost, Randi J. (30 July 2009). OpenGL Shading Language (3rd ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-63763-5.
Lengyel, Eric. The OpenGL Extensions Guide. Charles River Media. ISBN 1-58450-294-0.
OpenGL Architecture Review Board; Shreiner, Dave. OpenGL Reference Manual: The Official Reference Document to OpenGL. Version 1.4. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-321-17383-X.
OpenGL Architecture Review Board; Shreiner, Dave; et al. OpenGL Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL. Version 2 (5th ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-321-33573-2.
External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to OpenGL. |
 | Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: OpenGL Programming |
Official website
OpenGL.org's Wiki with more information on OpenGL Language bindings- SGI's OpenGL website
OpenGL at Curlie (based on DMOZ)- Khronos Group, Inc.
Angel, Edward & Shreiner, Dave (2013). "An Introduction to OpenGL Programming". YouTube. SIGGRAPH University.
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