Layout Qualifier (GLSL)

Program Separation
Core in version	4.6
Core since version	4.1
Core ARB extension	ARB_separate_shader_objects

Forced early fragment tests
Core in version	4.6
Core since version	4.2
Core ARB extension	ARB_shader_image_load_store

Tessellation Control Shader
Core in version	4.6
Core since version	4.0
Core ARB extension	ARB_tessellation_shader

Uniforms, buffer, inputs, and outputs can also have layout qualifiers. Different stages have their own layout qualifiers, and the different types can have their own as well.

All layout qualifiers are defined with a common syntax:

layout(qualifier1, qualifier2 = value, ...) variable definition

The qualifier values are specific to a particular use of layouts. The qualifiers are order-independent, unless otherwise noted. Some qualifiers can have values assigned to them, as with qualifier2 in the above example. These values must be literals.

Some layout qualifiers can apply to all inputs or outputs. In which case, the variable definition can just be in or out.

Vertex shader attribute index

Vertex shader inputs can specify the attribute index that the particular input uses. This is done with this syntax:

layout(location = attribute index) in vec3 position;

With this syntax, you can forgo the use of glBindAttribLocation entirely. If you try to combine the two and they conflict, the layout qualifier always wins.

Attributes that take up multiple attribute slots will be given a sequential block of that number of attributes in order starting with the given attribute. For example:

layout(location = 2) in vec3 values[4];

This will allocate the attribute indices 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Tessellation control output vertex count

Tessellation Control Shaders (TCS) output patches with a particular vertex count. This is defined by a layout qualifier:

layout(vertices = vertex_count) out;

The TCS will be invoked once for each vertex output.

Tessellation evaluation options

Main article: Tessellation Evaluation Shader#Tessellation options

The Tessellation Evaluation Shader (requires GL 4.0 or ARB_tessellation_shader) has a large number of special layout qualifiers that control its behavior.

Geometry shader primitives

Geometry Shaders take a particular primitive type as input and return a particular primitive type as outputs. Also, geometry shaders have a defined maximum number of vertices that they can output. These specifications cannot be used on a variable definition; it can only be used on the qualifiers in and out as a whole.

 layout(primitive type) in;
 layout(primitive type, max_vertices = integer value) out;

For inputs, the primitive type can be any of the following:

points
lines
lines_adjacency
triangles
triangles_adjacency

For outputs, the primitive type can be any of the following:

points
line_strip
triangle_strip

The value of max_vertices defines the maximum number of vertices the geometry shader can every output in a single invocation.

Fragment shader coordinate origin

The gl_FragCoord predefined variable represents the location of the fragment in window-space. There are two layout qualifiers that can affect this. These are specified by redeclaring the predefined variable.

The qualifier origin_upper_left specifies that gl_FragCoord will have the origin (0, 0) in the upper-left of the screen. The standard OpenGL convention is to have it in the lower-left. This does not change the Z or W of the gl_FragCoord value.

The qualifier pixel_center_integer specifies that the X and Y of gl_FragCoord will be shifted by a half-pixel, so that the center of each pixel is an integer value. The standard OpenGL convention puts the integer values at the corner of the pixel.

These are used as follows:

layout(origin_upper_left) in vec4 gl_FragCoord;

Early fragment tests

Main article: Early Depth Test#Explicit specification

By the OpenGL specification, the depth and stencil tests are performed after the fragment shader's execution (implementations can and will do it before the fragment shader, but only if it won't affect the apparent output). However, with a fragment shader's ability to write to arbitrary images and buffers in OpenGL 4.2+, it is useful to be able to enforce early tests. This can be done in GL 4.2 (or with ARB_shader_image_load_store):

layout(early_fragment_tests) in;

Any writes to gl_FragDepth in a shader that defines this will be ignored.

Fragment shader buffer output

Fragment shader outputs can specify the buffer index that a particular output writes to. This uses the same syntax as vertex shader attributes:

layout(location = output index) out vec4 outColor;

As with vertex shader inputs, this allows the user to forgo the use of glBindFragDataLocation. Similarly, the values in the shader override the values provided by this function.

For dual source blending, the syntax includes a second qualifier:

layout(location = output index, index = dual output index) out vec4 outColor;

Again, this allows one to forgo the use of glBindFragDataLocationIndexed.

Program separation linkage

Normally, when linking shaders into a program, the output variables from one stage are matched with the input variables from another stage. However, when linking programs together dynamically in a program pipeline object, an alternative method of linking is allowed. The name linking is allowed, but so is linking by location.

Input and output variables for communication between shader stages (ie: not vertex shader input or fragment shader output) can have a location associated with them. This is used instead of a name when linking between two shader stages (whether statically or dynamically via a program pipeline). This is provided by the layout location qualifier.

For example, given a vertex shader that provides these outputs:

layout(location = 0) out vec4 color;
layout(location = 1) out vec2 texCoord;
layout(location = 2) out vec3 normal;

Normally, the fragment shader would have to use exactly those names. This is not required when using separate programs. If an output has a location specified, the next stage can provide that location with a different name. So a matching fragment shader could look like this:

layout(location = 0) in vec4 diffuseAlbedo;
layout(location = 1) in vec2 texCoord
layout(location = 2) in vec3 cameraSpaceNormal;

Note: The ARB_separate_shader_objects extension was released in a form where this kind of layout location linking outside of separate shaders did not work. That is, if you specified location indices, they were effectively ignored unless you were linking a separate program. The spec was changed to fix this, so that linkage would be the same whether separate or together; if location indices are specified, they are always used. However, AMD implemented the old behavior for a time, and it is not clear that their implementation was updated to fix this.

Interface block memory layout

Main article: GLSL_Interface_Block#Memory_layout

Variables declared in interface blocks that get their storage from buffers (uniform blocks or shader storage blocks) have a number of layout qualifiers to define the packing and ordering of the variables defined in the block.

Binding points

Binding points

Core in version		4.6
Core since version		4.2
Core ARB extension	ARB_shading_language_420pack

Uniform and shader storage blocks, and all opaque types have a value which represents the location in the GL context where an object that is to be read/modified is stored. These binding points, like input attribute indices and output data locations can be bound in the shader when using GLSL 4.20 or the GL_ARB_shading_language_420pack extension. This is done by using the "binding" syntax:

layout(binding = 3) uniform sampler2D mainTexture;
layout(binding = 1, std140) uniform MainBlock
{
  vec3 data;
};

The first line is the equivalent of getting the uniform location for "mainTexture" and setting its uniform value to "3". Similarly, the second line is the equivalent of getting the "MainBlock" block location and setting its block index to "1". This only sets the initial value; source code can modify it later.

Image formats

Forced early fragment tests

Core in version		4.6
Core since version		4.2
Core ARB extension	ARB_shader_image_load_store

Image uniform variables have qualifiers that define the format that all reading operations will convert the data into and all writing operations will convert the data from. They are grouped into 3 categories: floating-point, signed-integer, and unsigned-integer formats. These are the possible values:

Floating-point layout image formats:
- rgba32f
- rgba16f
- rg32f
- rg16f
- r11f_g11f_b10f
- r32f
- r16f
- rgba16
- rgb10_a2
- rgba8
- rg16
- rg8
- r16
- r8
- rgba16_snorm
- rgba8_snorm
- rg16_snorm
- rg8_snorm
- r16_snorm
- r8_snorm
Signed integer layout image formats:
- rgba32i
- rgba16i
- rgba8i
- rg32i
- rg16i
- rg8i
- r32i
- r16i
- r8i
Unsigned integer layout image formats:
- rgba32ui
- rgba16ui
- rgb10_a2ui
- rgba8ui
- rg32ui
- rg16ui
- rg8ui
- r32ui
- r16ui
- r8ui

Atomic counter storage

Atomic Counters

Core in version		4.6
Core since version		4.2
Core ARB extension	ARB_shader_atomic_counters

Main article: Atomic Counter

Atomic Counter variables have special layout settings that define where within a buffer object a particular variable comes from. These are required; there are no alternate methods to set these fields.

V · E

Atomic counter layout parameters

Explicit uniform location

Explicit Uniform Location

Core in version		4.6
Core since version		4.3
Core ARB extension	ARB_explicit_uniform_location