Buffer Object

Buffer Objects is the general term for unformatted linear memory allocated by the OpenGL context. These can be used to store vertex data, pixel data retrieved from images or the framebuffer, and a variety of other things.

Versioning

Buffer objects were initially introduced in the ARB_vertex_buffer_object extension. They have been part of core OpenGL since version 1.5. This discussion will pertain specifically to the core version of buffer objects, though it is essentially identical to the extension version.

While buffer objects themselves are relatively old, some of the uses of them are much more recent.