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Graphics library

{{Short description|Program library for computer graphics}}

A graphics library or graphics API is a program library designed to aid in rendering computer graphics to a monitor. This typically involves providing optimized versions of functions that handle common rendering tasks. This can be done purely in software and running on the CPU, common in embedded systems, or being hardware accelerated by a GPU, more common in PCs. By employing these functions, a program can assemble an image to be output to a monitor. This relieves the programmer of the task of creating and optimizing these functions, and allows them to focus on building the graphics program. Graphics libraries are mainly used in video games and simulations.

The use of graphics libraries in connection with video production systems, such as Pixar RenderMan, is not covered here.

class="wikitable"

|+Latest Graphics Library usage across Operating Systems:

! OS

! Vulkan

! Direct X

! GNMX

! Metal

Windows 10

| Free, Nvidia and AMD

| Free, MS

| no

| no

Mac

| Free, MoltenVK

| no

| no

| Free, Apple

Linux

| Free

| no

| no

| no

Android

| Free

| no

| no

| no

iOS

| Free, MoltenVK

| no

| no

| Free, Apple

Tizen

| in Development

| no

| no

| no

Sailfish

| in Development

| no

| no

| no

Xbox One

| no

| Free

| no

| no

Orbis OS (PS4)

| no

| no

| Free

| no

Nintendo Switch

| Free

| no

| no

| no

HarmonyOS

|Free

|no

|no

|no

OpenHarmony

|Free

|no

|no

|no

Some APIs use Graphics Library (GL) in their name, notably OpenGL and WebGL.

Examples

  • Allegro
  • ANGLE
  • Cairo (graphics){{Cite web|title = cairographics.org|url = http://cairographics.org|website = cairographics.org|access-date = 2016-01-03}}
  • DFPSR https://dawoodoz.com/dfpsr.html — GUI toolkit and software renderer
  • DirectX{{Cite web|url = https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee663274(v=vs.85).aspx|title = DirectX|website = DirectX Graphics and Gaming (Windows) - MSDN - Microsoft}} — a library created by Microsoft, to run under Windows operating systems and 'Direct' Xbox
  • Display PostScript
  • emWin{{Cite web|url = https://www.lpcware.com/content/project/emwin-graphics-library|title = emWin Graphics Library {{!}} www.LPCware.com|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160329073825/https://www.lpcware.com/content/project/emwin-graphics-library|archive-date = 2016-03-29|url-status = dead}} — an Embedded Graphics Library
  • FLTK{{Cite web|url = http://www.fltk.org|title = FLTK GUI and Graphics Library {{!}} www.fltk.org}} — GUI Toolkit and Graphics Library
  • GTK — a GUI toolkit
  • Mesa 3D{{Cite web|url = http://www.mesa3d.org|title = The Mesa 3D Graphics Library}} — a library that implements OpenGL and Vulkan
  • Mobile 3D Graphics API
  • Qt{{Cite web|url = http://www.qt.io|title = Qt - Home}} — cross-platform application framework
  • Quartz (graphics layer)
  • SFML{{Cite web|url = http://www.sfml-dev.org|title = SFML}}
  • [http://www.libsigil.com SIGIL]{{Cite web|url=http://www.libsigil.com|title=SIGIL: Sound, Input, and Graphics Integration Library|website=www.libsigil.com|access-date=2016-06-21}} — Sound, Input, and Graphics Integration Library
  • Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL){{Cite web|url = https://www.libsdl.org|title = Simple DirectMedia Layer - Homepage}}
  • Skia Graphics Library{{Cite web|url = https://skia.org|title = Skia Graphics Library}}
  • X Window System

See also

References

{{reflist}}

{{Graphics Processing Unit}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graphics Library}}