Differences between WebGL and OpenGL - Stack Overflow

WebGL is a cross-platform, royalty-free web standard for a low-level 3D graphics API based on OpenGL ES 2.0, exposed through the HTML5 Canvas ... Home Public Questions Tags Users Collectives ExploreCollectives FindaJob Jobs Companies Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam CollectivesonStackOverflow Findcentralized,trustedcontentandcollaboratearoundthetechnologiesyouusemost. Learnmore Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore DifferencesbetweenWebGLandOpenGL AskQuestion Asked 10years,3monthsago Active 2years,9monthsago Viewed 43ktimes 48 15 CananyonegivemeasimpleanswerabouttheexactdifferencebetweenOpenGLandWebGL?Ineedmorespecificonthefollowing: programmingsemantics,API'sinheritence,API'sextensionsetc. I'velookedatthefollowingsitebutitisnotverycleartome: http://www.khronos.org/webgl/wiki/WebGL_and_OpenGL_Differences openglwebgl Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedNov30,2018at12:44 doppelgreener 5,55199goldbadges4747silverbadges6262bronzebadges askedDec11,2011at6:49 DeepakDeepak 93622goldbadges88silverbadges1414bronzebadges 1 3 "programmingsymantecs,api'sinheritence,api'sextension"xD – User Oct14,2012at10:43 Addacomment  |  4Answers 4 Sortedby: HighestScore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 51 WebGLis"OpenGLES2",notplainOpenGL(theESstandsfor'forEmbeddedSystems').Sothere'sthefirstdifference.OpenGLESisessentiallyasubsetofOpenGL.Inaddition,WebGLisalmostthesameasOpenGLES2,buthassomesubtledifferences,explainedinthelinkyouprovide.There'snotmuchtoaddtothatlink,it'saprettyclearexplanationofwhatisdifferentbetweenOpenGLES2andWebgl. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredDec11,2011at6:59 Mike'Pomax'KamermansMike'Pomax'Kamermans 43.5k1414goldbadges9090silverbadges133133bronzebadges Addacomment  |  37 OpenGLisadesktopcomputer-centricAPI(likeDirect3D).WebGLisderivedfromOpenGLES2.0(intendedformobiledevices)whichhaslesscapabilitiesandissimplertouse. WebGLisalsodesignedtoruninabrowser,andhasthereforeafewlimitationsmorethenOpenGLES2.0. UnlikeOpenGL,WebGLdoesnotrequirenativedriversupport.AwrappercalledANGLE,whichSafari,ChromeandFirefoxusecantranslateWebGLcallsandGLSLtoeitherOpenGL/GLSLorDirect3D/HLSL PleaseseetheKhronoswikiforadetailedanswer:http://www.khronos.org/webgl/wiki/WebGL_and_OpenGL_Differences Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedDec11,2015at19:30 user719662 answeredJan4,2012at23:55 FlorianBöschFlorianBösch 26.7k1111goldbadges4646silverbadges5353bronzebadges Addacomment  |  11 WebGLismeanttoruninabrowser(webapplications). WebGLisasoftwarelibrarythatextendsthecapabilityoftheJavaScriptprogramminglanguagetoallowittogenerateinteractive3Dgraphicswithinanycompatiblewebbrowser. ... ItusestheHTML5canvaselementandisaccessedusingDocumentObjectModelinterfaces.AutomaticmemorymanagementisprovidedaspartoftheJavaScriptlanguage. OpenGListypicallyusedindesktopapplications.Itisacross-language,cross-platformspecification,ofwhichWebGLismore-or-lessasubset. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredDec11,2011at6:58 MattBallMattBall 342k9696goldbadges626626silverbadges693693bronzebadges Addacomment  |  4 Theconsortium(https://www.khronos.org/webgl/)definitionisquotedbelow. WebGLisacross-platform,royalty-freewebstandardforalow-level3DgraphicsAPIbasedonOpenGLES2.0,exposedthroughtheHTML5CanvaselementasDocumentObjectModelinterfaces.DevelopersfamiliarwithOpenGLES2.0willrecognizeWebGLasaShader-basedAPIusingGLSL,withconstructsthataresemanticallysimilartothoseoftheunderlyingOpenGLES2.0API.ItstaysveryclosetotheOpenGLES2.0specification,withsomeconcessionsmadeforwhatdevelopersexpectoutofmemory-managedlanguagessuchasJavaScript. OpenGLandWebGLhavesimilarsemanticsbutarecodedindifferentlanguages.YouwillseeatthebasiclevelthatmostofdifferencesareintheprogramminglanguageconstructsofC/C++vsJavaScript WebGLandOpenGLshowsthesimilaritiesbetweenthetwo,OpenGLinC/C++andWebGLinJavaScript. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJun20,2020at9:12 CommunityBot 111silverbadge answeredSep27,2016at15:56 ap-osdap-osd 2,1661515silverbadges1414bronzebadges Addacomment  |  YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoStackOverflow!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. Draftsaved Draftdiscarded Signuporlogin SignupusingGoogle SignupusingFacebook SignupusingEmailandPassword Submit Postasaguest Name Email Required,butnevershown PostYourAnswer Discard Byclicking“PostYourAnswer”,youagreetoourtermsofservice,privacypolicyandcookiepolicy Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedopenglwebgloraskyourownquestion. 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