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Vulkan
EntityQ19407678· pop 28· linked from 268 articles

Also known as glNext, Vulkan API, OpenGL Next

Vulkan is a cross-platform API and open standard for 3D graphics and computing. It was intended to address the shortcomings of OpenGL, and allow developers more control over the GPU. It is designed to support a wide variety of GPUs, CPUs and operating systems, and modern multi-core CPUs also.

Key facts

Software.name
Vulkan
Software.logo
Vulkan logo.svg
Software.author
AMD, DICE (original Mantle design)
Software.developer
(donated and derived variant, as Vulkan)
Software.programming language
(also available C++ API)
Software.operating system
Android, Linux, BSD Unix, Windows, Nintendo Switch, Fuchsia, Raspberry Pi, vxWorks, QNX, HarmonyOS, OpenHarmony, Oniro, Haiku, Stadia, TizenThrough portability workarounds: macOS, iOS, Aurora OS
Software.genre
3D graphics and compute API

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Official name
Vulkan
Official website
www.vulkan.org
Image
Vulkaninfo with vkcube screenshot.png
Show 9 more facts
publication date
2016-02-16
inception
2014-07-00
source code repository URL
github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs
announcement date
2014-08-11
Commons category
Vulkan
hashtag
Vulkan
social media followers
16987
software version identifier
1.4.349
Sources (12)

via Wikidata · CC0

~19 min read

Article

36 sections
Contents
  • Overview
  • Features
  • Cross-platform
  • Lower CPU usage
  • Multi-threading friendly design
  • Pre-compiled shaders
  • Others
  • OpenGL versus Vulkan
  • Versions
  • Vulkan 1.0
  • Vulkan 1.1
  • Vulkan 1.2
  • Vulkan 1.3
  • Vulkan 1.4
  • Planned features
  • History
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • 2018
  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2022
  • 2024
  • {{Anchor|Hardware}}Support across vendors
  • Intel
  • AMD
  • NVIDIA
  • Android and mobile GPUs
  • Apple
  • Huawei, OpenAtom Foundation and Eclipse Foundation
  • Backwards compatibility
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Vulkan is a cross-platform API and open standard for 3D graphics and computing. It was intended to address the shortcomings of OpenGL, and allow developers more control over the GPU. It is designed to support a wide variety of GPUs, CPUs and operating systems, and modern multi-core CPUs also.

Microsoft supports Vulkan 1.2 (and higher) on Windows 10 and 11, with a downloadable compatibility pack.

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