WebGL (short forWeb Graphics Library) is aJavaScriptAPI for rendering interactive 2D and 3D graphics within any compatibleweb browser without the use ofplug-ins.[2] WebGL is fully integrated with otherweb standards, allowingGPU-accelerated usage of physics, image processing, and effects in theHTMLcanvas. WebGL elements can be mixed with other HTML elements and composited with other parts of the page or page background.[3]
WebGL programs consist of control code written in JavaScript, andshader code written inOpenGL ES Shading Language (GLSL ES, sometimes referred to as ESSL), a language similar toC orC++. WebGL code is executed on a computer's GPU.
WebGL is designed and maintained by thenon-profitKhronos Group.[4] On February 9, 2022, Khronos Group announced WebGL 2.0 support from all major browsers.[5]
Like OpenGL ES 2.0, WebGL lacks thefixed-function APIs introduced in OpenGL 1.0 anddeprecated in OpenGL 3.0. This functionality, if required, has to be implemented by the developer using shader code and JavaScript.
Shaders in WebGL are written in GLSL and passed to the WebGL API as text strings. The WebGL implementation compiles these strings to GPU code. This code is executed for each vertex sent through the API and for each pixelrasterized to the screen.
WebGL evolved out of the Canvas 3D experiments started byVladimir Vukićević atMozilla. Vukićević first demonstrated a Canvas 3D prototype in 2006. By the end of 2007, both Mozilla[8] and Opera[9] had made their own separate implementations.
In early 2009, thenon-profit technologyconsortiumKhronos Group started the WebGL Working Group, with initial participation fromApple,Google, Mozilla,Opera, and others.[4][10] Version 1.0 of the WebGL specification was released March 2011.[1]
An early application of WebGL wasZygote Body.[11][12] In November 2012Autodesk announced that they ported most of their applications to the cloud running on local WebGL clients. These applications included Fusion 360 and AutoCAD 360.[13]
Development of the WebGL 2 specification started in 2013 and finished in January 2017.[14] The specification is based on OpenGL ES 3.0.[15]First implementations are in Firefox 51, Chrome 56 and Opera 43.[16]
Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine (ANGLE) is an open source graphic engine which implements WebGL 1.0 (2.0 which closely conforms to ES 3.0) andOpenGL ES 2.0 and 3.0 standards. It is a default backend for both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox on Windows platforms and works by translating WebGL and OpenGL calls to available platform-specific APIs. ANGLE currently provides access to OpenGL ES 2.0 and 3.0 to desktop OpenGL, OpenGL ES,Direct3D 9, and Direct3D 11 APIs.[17] ″[Google]Chrome uses ANGLE for all graphics rendering on Windows, including the accelerated Canvas2D implementation and the Native Client sandbox environment.″[17]
WebGL is widely supported by modern browsers. However, its availability depends on other factors, too, like whether the GPU supports it. The official WebGL website offers a simple test page.[18] More detailed information (like what renderer the browser uses, and what extensions are available) can be found at third-party websites.[19][20]
Google Chrome – WebGL 1.0 has been enabled on all platforms that have a capable graphics card with updated drivers since version 9, released in February 2011.[21][22] By default on Windows, Chrome uses theANGLE (Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine) renderer to translate OpenGL ES toDirect X 9.0c or 11.0, which have better driver support.[23] However, on Linux and Mac OS X, the default renderer is OpenGL.[24] It is also possible to force OpenGL as the renderer on Windows.[23] Since September 2013, Chrome also has a newerDirect3D 11 renderer, which requires a newer graphics card.[25][26] Chrome 56+ supports WebGL 2.0.
Firefox – WebGL 1.0 has been enabled on all platforms that have a capable graphics card with updated drivers since version 4.0.[27] Since 2013 Firefox also usesDirectX on the Windows platform viaANGLE.[23] Firefox 51+ supports WebGL 2.0.
Safari – Safari 6.0 and newer versions installed onOS X Mountain Lion,Mac OS X Lion and Safari 5.1 onMac OS X Snow Leopard implemented support for WebGL 1.0, which was disabled by default before Safari 8.0.[28][29][30][31][32] Safari version 12 (available in MacOS Mojave) has available support for WebGL 2.0 as an "Experimental" feature. Safari 15 enables WebGL 2.0 for all users.[33]
Opera – WebGL 1.0 has been implemented in Opera 11 and 12, but was disabled by default in 2014.[34][35] Opera 43+ supports WebGL 2.0.
Internet Explorer – WebGL 1.0 is partially supported inInternet Explorer 11.[36][37][38][39] Internet Explorer initially failed most of the official WebGL conformance tests, but Microsoft later released several updates. The latest 0.94 WebGL engine currently passes ≈97% of Khronos tests.[40] WebGL support can also be manually added to earlier versions of Internet Explorer using third-party plugins such as IEWebGL.[41]
Microsoft Edge – For Microsoft Edge Legacy, the initial stable release supports WebGL version 0.95 (context name: "experimental-webgl") with an open source GLSL toHLSLtranspiler.[42] Version 10240+ supports WebGL 1.0 as prefixed. Latest Chromium-based Edge supports WebGL 2.0.
Android Browser – WebGL 1.0 is supported on Android as of Chrome 25.[43] WebGL 2.0 is supported on Android as of Chrome 114.[44] Chrome is used for the Android system webview as of Android 5.[44]
BlackBerry 10 – WebGL 1.0 is available for BlackBerry devices since OS version 10.00[45]
BlackBerry PlayBook – WebGL 1.0 is available via WebWorks and browser in PlayBook OS 2.00[46]
The low-level nature of the WebGL API, which provides little on its own to quickly create desirable 3D graphics, motivated the creation of higher-level libraries thatabstract common operations (e.g. loadingscene graphs and 3D objects in certain formats; applyinglinear transformations toshaders orview frustums). Some such libraries wereported to JavaScript from other languages. Examples of libraries that provide high-level features includeA-Frame (VR), BabylonJS,PlayCanvas,three.js,OSG.JS,Google’s model-viewer andCopperLicht. Web3D also made a project called X3DOM to makeX3D andVRML content run on WebGL.
There has been an emergence of 2D and 3Dgame engines for WebGL,[56] such asUnreal Engine 4 andUnity.[57] TheStage3D/Flash-basedAway3D high-level library also has a port to WebGL viaTypeScript.[25][58] A more light-weight utility library that provides just the vector and matrix math utilities for shaders is sylvester.js.[59][60] It is sometimes used in conjunction with a WebGL specific extension called glUtils.js.[59][61]
There are also some 2D libraries built atop WebGL, likeCocos2d-x orPixi.js, which were implemented this way for performance reasons in a move that parallels what happened with theStarling Framework over Stage3D in the Flash world. The WebGL-based 2D libraries fall back to HTML5 canvas when WebGL is not available.[62] Removing the rendering bottleneck by giving almost direct access to the GPU has exposed performance limitations in the JavaScript implementations. Some were addressed byasm.js andWebAssembly (similarly, the introduction of Stage3D exposed performance problems withinActionScript, which were addressed by projects likeCrossBridge).[62]
As with any other graphics API, creating content for WebGL scenes requires using a3D content creation tool and exporting the scene to a format that is readable by the viewer or helper library. Desktop 3D authoring software such asBlender,Autodesk Maya orSimLab Composer can be used for this purpose. In particular,Blend4Web allows a WebGL scene to be authored entirely in Blender and exported to a browser with a single click, even as a standalone web page.[63] There are also some WebGL-specific software such asCopperCube and the online WebGL-based editorClara.io. Online platforms such asSketchfab and Clara.io allow users to directly upload their 3D models and display them using a hosted WebGL viewer.
Starting fromFirefox Version 27,Mozilla has givenFirefox built-in WebGL tools that allow the editing of vertices and fragment shaders.[64] A number of other debugging andprofiling tools have also emerged.[65]
