OpenGLs

OpenGL is a cross-language, cross-platform API for rendering 2D and 3D graphics. The term OpenGLs is not standard; the official name is OpenGL, though informal usage may pluralize it.

OpenGL originated in the early 1990s at Silicon Graphics, designed to provide a portable interface for hardware-accelerated rendering. The Khronos Group has maintained the API since 2006 and coordinates extensions through public specifications. Extensions enable new features while preserving compatibility with existing code, allowing the API to evolve with graphics hardware.

OpenGL uses a programmable graphics pipeline. Modern OpenGL emphasizes shaders written in GLSL, along with vertex buffers, textures, and framebuffers. The fixed-function pipeline is deprecated in core profiles; developers typically target modern core profiles and may use compatibility profiles to support older code.

Implementation and usage: rendering contexts are created with platform-specific APIs such as WGL on Windows, GLX on X11, or EGL on embedded systems and cross-platform environments. OpenGL remains widely supported on desktop and workstation hardware. Mobile devices commonly use OpenGL ES, a related API designed for embedded systems. Khronos also oversees Vulkan, a newer API that targets lower-level control and efficiency, overlapping with OpenGL in capabilities but offering different design trade-offs.

As of the current practice, the most recent OpenGL core specification is 4.6, with ongoing extensions that add functionality while maintaining broad driver compatibility across vendors.