The Khronos Group - Connecting Software to Silicon

The Khronos Group is a not for profit industry consortium creating open standards for the authoring and acceleration of parallel computing, graphics, dynamic media, computer vision and sensor processing on a wide variety of platforms and devices. All Khronos members are able to contribute to the development of Khronos API specifications, are empowered to vote at various stages before public deployment, and are able to accelerate the delivery of their cutting-edge 3D platforms and applications through early access to specification drafts and conformance tests.

OpenGL - The Industry Standard for High Performance Graphics

OpenGL® is the most widely adopted 2D and 3D graphics API in the industry, bringing thousands of applications to a wide variety of computer platforms. It is window-system and operating-system independent as well as network-transparent. OpenGL enables developers of software for PC, workstation, and supercomputing hardware to create high-performance, visually compelling graphics software applications, in markets such as CAD, content creation, energy, entertainment, game development, manufacturing, medical, and virtual reality. OpenGL exposes all the features of the latest graphics hardware.

OpenCL - The open standard for parallel programming of heterogeneous systems

OpenCL™ is the first open, royalty-free standard for cross-platform, parallel programming of modern processors found in personal computers, servers and handheld/embedded devices. OpenCL (Open Computing Language) greatly improves speed and responsiveness for a wide spectrum of applications in numerous market categories from gaming and entertainment to scientific and medical software.

OpenGL ES - The Standard for Embedded 3D Graphics

OpenGL ES is a royalty-free, cross-platform API for full-function 2D and 3D graphics on embedded systems - including consoles, phones, appliances and vehicles. It consists of well-defined subsets of desktop OpenGL, creating a flexible and powerful low-level interface between software and graphics acceleration. OpenGL ES includes profiles for floating-point and fixed-point systems and the EGL specification for portably binding to native windowing systems. OpenGL ES 1.X: fixed function hardware offering acceleration, image quality and performance. OpenGL ES 2.X: enables full programmable 3D graphics.

EGL - Native Platform Interface

EGL™ is an interface between Khronos rendering APIs such as OpenGL ES or OpenVG and the underlying native platform window system. It handles graphics context management, surface/buffer binding, and rendering synchronization and enables high-performance, accelerated, mixed-mode 2D and 3D rendering using other Khronos APIs.

WebGL - OpenGL ES 2.0 for the Web

WebGL is a royalty-free, cross-platform API that brings OpenGL ES 2.0 to the web as a 3D drawing context within HTML, exposed as low-level Document Object Model interfaces. It uses the OpenGL shading language, GLSL ES, and can be cleanly combined with other web content that is layered on top or underneath the 3D content. It is ideally suited for dynamic 3D web applications in the JavaScript programming language, and will be fully integrated in leading web browsers.

WebCL - Heterogeneous parallel computing in HTML5 web browsers

The WebCL working group is working to define a JavaScript binding to the Khronos OpenCL standard for heterogeneous parallel computing. WebCL will enable web applications to harness GPU and multi-core CPU parallel processing from within a Web browser, enabling significant acceleration of applications such as image and video processing and advanced physics for WebGL games. WebCL is being developed in close cooperation with the Web community and has the potential to extend the capabilities of HTML5 browsers to accelerate computationally intensive and rich visual computing applications.

COLLADA - Digital Asset and FX Exchange Schema

COLLADA™ defines an XML-based schema to make it easy to transport 3D assets between applications - enabling diverse 3D authoring and content processing tools be combined into a production pipeline. The intermediate language provides comprehensive encoding of visual scenes including: geometry, shaders and effects, physics, animation, kinematics, and even multiple version representations of the same asset.COLLADA FX enables leading 3D authoring tools to work effectively together to create shader and effects applications and assets to be authored and packaged using OpenGL® Shading Language, Cg, CgFX, and DirectX® FX

glTF - runtime asset format for WebGL, OpenGL ES, and OpenGL

The "glTF" project aims to define a final stage OpenGL Transmission Format to enable rapid delivery and loading of 3D content by WebGL, OpenGL, and OpenGL ES APIs. glTF together with COLLADA comprise a standards-based content pipeline for rich 3D web and mobile applications. glTF Specification is a work-in-progress from the COLLADA Working Group; it is not an official Khronos-ratified specification yet. It is incomplete and subject to change. The draft specification and related converters and loaders are available on github.

OpenVG - The Standard for Vector Graphics Acceleration

OpenVG™ is a royalty-free, cross-platform API that provides a low-level hardware acceleration interface for vector graphics libraries such as Flash and SVG. OpenVG is targeted primarily at handheld devices that require portable acceleration of high-quality vector graphics for compelling user interfaces and text on small screen devices - while enabling hardware acceleration to provide fluidly interactive performance at very low power levels.

OpenSL ES - The Standard for Embedded Audio Acceleration

OpenSL ES™ is a royalty-free, cross-platform, hardware-accelerated audio API tuned for embedded systems. It provides a standardized, high-performance, low-latency method to access audio functionality for developers of native applications on embedded mobile multimedia devices, enabling straightforward cross-platform deployment of hardware and software audio capabilities, reducing implementation effort, and promoting the market for advanced audio.

OpenMAX IL - The Standard for Media Library Portability

OpenMAX™ is a royalty-free, cross-platform API that provides comprehensive streaming media codec and application portability by enabling accelerated multimedia components to be developed, integrated and programmed across multiple operating systems and silicon platforms. The OpenMAX API will be shipped with processors to enable library and codec implementers to rapidly and effectively make use of the full acceleration potential of new silicon - regardless of the underlying hardware architecture.

OpenMAX AL - The Standard for Media Library Portability

StreamInput - Cross-platform advanced sensor processing and user interaction

The Khronos StreamInput working group is driving industry consensus to create a cross-platform API to enable applications to discover and use new generation sensors to create sophisticated user interactions. The new API will support a general-purpose framework for consistently handling advanced sensors such as depth cameras, touch screens and motion and orientation sensors as well as traditional input devices. StreamInput will provide flexible device discovery to enable an application to select and process high-level semantic input from low-level device capabilities, enabling significant innovations by sensor and device manufacturers while simplifying portable application development. The API will also provide system-wide sensor synchronization for advanced multi-sensor applications such as augmented reality, and will use Khronos’ proven extension mechanisms to enable new types of input devices to be easily added and supported.

OpenVX - Hardware acceleration for Computer Vision applications & libraries

Computer vision has become an essential component of many modern applications including gesture tracking, smart video surveillance, automatic driver assistance, biometrics, computational photography, augmented reality, visual inspection, robotics and more. The OpenVX working group has been formed to drive industry consensus to create a cross-platform API standard to enable hardware vendors to implement and optimize accelerated computer vision algorithms. The OpenVX API can accelerate high-level libraries, such as OpenCV open source vision library, or be used by applications directly. A strong focus will be on providing computer vision on mobile and embedded systems and enabling acceleration on a wide variety of computing architectures including CPUs, GPUs and DSPs. OpenVX will explore interoperability with existing Khronos standards for camera control, video processing, compute acceleration and graphics rendering.

Chapters - Community driven regional meetup groups

Chapters host all kinds of Khronos technology-related events, from casual meet ups and socials to hack fests, fundraisers, guest lectures, community service and educational events.

Other Khronos Group APIs and Technologies

The Khronos Group manages other APIs and Technologies:

OpenGL SC - Safety Critical Profile
OpenMAX DL - The Standard for Media Library Portability
OpenKODE - Khronos Open Development Environment
OpenWF - The Standard for building composited windowing systems
OpenML - The Standard for Dynamic Media Authoring

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Khronos OpenKODE Specification and API Registry

The OpenKODE Specification and API Registry contains specifications of the core API and headers, optional OpenKODE extensions and headers, points to other Khronos APIs required by a conformant OpenKODE implementation, and includes some related documentation.

OpenKODE Core API Specification and Headers

The current version of OpenKODE is OpenKODE 1.0.3. The specification package was released on May 20, 2009.

OpenKODE 1.0.3 Specification (May 20, 2009).
- kd.h for OpenKODE 1.0.3.
- kdplatform.h for OpenKODE 1.0.3.

Archived Specifications

OpenKODE 1.0.2 was updated on February 23, 2009.

OpenKODE 1.0.2 Specification (February 23, 2009).
- kd.h for OpenKODE 1.0.2.
- kdplatform.h for OpenKODE 1.0.2.

OpenKODE 1.0.1 was released on June 16, 2008.

OpenKODE 1.0.1 Specification (June 16, 2008).
- kd.h for OpenKODE 1.0.1.
- kdplatform.h for OpenKODE 1.0.1.

OpenKODE 1.0 was released on February 11, 2008:

OpenKODE 1.0 Specification (February 11, 2008).
- kd.h for OpenKODE 1.0.
- kdplatform.h for OpenKODE 1.0.

Prior to OpenKODE 1.0 being released, two Provisional versions of the specification and header files were made available for public feedback. These versions are retained here for archival purposes, but are superseded by OpenKODE 1.0. All implementations of OpenKODE should use released versions (1.0.1 or 1.0) of the Specification and headers.

The OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional (Revision 2) specification package was released in January, 2008:

OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional (Revision 2) Specification (updated by the OpenKODE Working Group on December 11, 2007).
- kd.h for OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional (Revision 2).
- kdplatform.h for OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional (Revision 2).

The OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional (Revision 1) specification package was released in April 2007.

OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional (Revision 1) Specification (updated by the OpenKODE Working Group on April 2, 2007; first ratified by the Khronos Board of Promoters on February 8, 2007)
- kd.h for OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional (Revision 1).
- kdplatform.h for OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional (Revision 1).

Related APIs

OpenKODE includes by reference a number of other Khronos APIs, listed below.

EGL 1.3 Specification (approved December 4, 2006).
Extensions to EGL 1.3, including:
- EGL_KHR_image
- EGL_KHR_vg_parent_image
- EGL_KHR_gl_texture_2D_image
- EGL_KHR_gl_texture_cubemap_image
- EGL_KHR_gl_texture_3D_image
- EGL_KHR_gl_renderbuffer_image
- EGL_KHR_lock_surface (added to OpenKODE 1.0 Provisional on April 2, 2007)
OpenGL ES 1.1 Full Specification and Difference Specification (April 4, 2007).
Extensions to OpenGL ES 1.1, including:
- GL_OES_egl_image
OpenVG 1.0.1 Specification (amended January 26, 2007).
Extensions to OpenVG 1.0.1, including:
- VG_KHR_EGL_image

See the Khronos.org Developer Pages and the Khronos API Registry for additional material, including headers for EGL, OpenGL ES, OpenVG, and other Khronos APIs.

Enumerant Registry

The database from which OpenKODE enumerant ranges are reserved is called kodeenum.txt.

The Khronos Group - a non-profit industry consortium to develop, publish and promote open standard, royalty-free media authoring and acceleration standards for desktop and handheld devices, combined with conformance qualification programs for platform and device interoperability.

Connecting Software to Silicon

The Khronos Group - Connecting Software to Silicon

OpenGL - The Industry Standard for High Performance Graphics

OpenCL - The open standard for parallel programming of heterogeneous systems

OpenGL ES - The Standard for Embedded 3D Graphics

EGL - Native Platform Interface

WebGL - OpenGL ES 2.0 for the Web

WebCL - Heterogeneous parallel computing in HTML5 web browsers

COLLADA - Digital Asset and FX Exchange Schema

glTF - runtime asset format for WebGL, OpenGL ES, and OpenGL

OpenVG - The Standard for Vector Graphics Acceleration

OpenSL ES - The Standard for Embedded Audio Acceleration

OpenMAX IL - The Standard for Media Library Portability

OpenMAX AL - The Standard for Media Library Portability

StreamInput - Cross-platform advanced sensor processing and user interaction

OpenVX - Hardware acceleration for Computer Vision applications & libraries

Chapters - Community driven regional meetup groups

Other Khronos Group APIs and Technologies

Quick Links:

Khronos OpenKODE Specification and API Registry

Khronos OpenKODE Specification and API Registry

OpenKODE Core API Specification and Headers

Archived Specifications

Related APIs

Enumerant Registry

Extension Specifications