OpenXR - High-performance access to AR and VR —collectively known as XR— platforms and devices (2024)

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OpenXR News

OpenXR - High-performance access to AR and VR —collectively known as XR— platforms and devices (1)

LATEST NEWS

Khronos Releases OpenXR 1.1 to Further Streamline Cross-Platform XR Development

OpenXR 1.1 consolidates multiple extensions into the core OpenXR specification to reduce fragmentation and simplify development of advanced XR applications.

Press ReleaseIndustry Support

FEATURED EVENT

Join Us at OpenXR Live Meetup and Mixer in Seattle, USA on Sep 12, 2024

At this informal gathering of the Seattle XR community there will be plenty of time to mix with fellow developers, check out some of the latest devices, demos and applications, plus listen to the latest updates on OpenXR and lightning talks from developers.

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Message from OpenXR Chair

" The OpenXR specification is a crucial part of the Mixed Reality ecosystem. Where previously application developers had to develop for each XR headset separately using proprietary APIs, they now have the freedom to develop for many different devices at once. With OpenXR, applications can be quickly retargeted to new platforms, or even run on new platforms unmodified. This lowers the cost of entry and unlocks the door to bringing in the new developers and ideas that will help make Mixed Reality a common part of our lives "

Ron Bessems — OpenXR Working Group Chair and Distinguished Software Engineer at Magic Leap

OpenXR - High-performance access to AR and VR —collectively known as XR— platforms and devices (3)

What is OpenXR

Solving XR Fragmentation

Before OpenXR, developers needed to create separate proprietary code paths to support all the different devices on the market. With OpenXR, developers now have access to a single high-performance cross-platform API that enables them to build a solution once, then easily port and optimize it to reach more customers, while still taking advantage of the innovative features of specific platforms through OpenXR extensions and API layers.

OpenXR - High-performance access to AR and VR —collectively known as XR— platforms and devices (4)
OpenXR - High-performance access to AR and VR —collectively known as XR— platforms and devices (5)

OpenXR standardizes the use of a range of cross-platform XR device capabilities, including:

  • Head Mounted Displays
  • Controllers
  • Base Stations
  • Trackers: Body, hand, object, eye, etc.
  • Haptic Devices
  • Game Engines
  • Cloud/5G Infrastructure
  • And more ...

OpenXR for Programmers

To the application programmer, OpenXR is a set of functions that interface with a runtime to perform commonly required operations such as accessing controller/peripheral state, getting current and/or predicted tracking positions, and submitting rendered frames.

A typical OpenXR program begins with a call to create an instance which establishes a connection to a runtime. Then a call is made to create a system which selects for use a physical display and a subset of input, tracking, and graphics devices. Subsequently, a call is made to create buffers into which the application will render one or more views using the appropriate graphics APIs for the platform. Finally, calls are made to create a session and begin the application’s XR rendering loop.

OpenXR for Runtime Implementors

To the runtime implementor, OpenXR is a set of functions that control the operation of the XR system and establishes the lifecycle of a XR application. The implementor’s task is to provide a software library on the host which implements the OpenXR API, while mapping the work for each OpenXR function to the capabilities of the underlying device.

OpenXR Developer Resources

Resources for OpenXR Development

Thanks to the support of the Khronos membership and our passionate developer community, there is a full set of well-supported developer information and educational resources to help quickly get you up and running with your OpenXR development.

OpenXR Conformant Runtimes

Conformant OpenXR Runtimes

The following companies are OpenXR adopters and have Conformant Products. More runtimes are constantly being added.

OpenXR Engines

Engines Integrating OpenXR

More engines are being added all the time. If we are missing yours, please Contact Us

  • Epic Unreal Engine: OpenXR support since Version 4.24
  • Unity: OpenXR plugin since Unity 2020 LTS
  • Chrome and Edge: Using WebXR
  • WebXR: Supports OpenXR as the default backend
  • Godot Game engine: OpenXR support since Core 4.0
  • Blender: VR scene graph inspection
  • Autodesk VRED & StereoKit
  • NVIDIA Omniverse

Companies Support OpenXR

Companies Supporting OpenXR

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Join OpenXR Community

Join the OpenXR Community

The OpenXR specification is free for anyone to download, review and comment, and there are several ways to follow the latest OpenXR developments, get your questions answered and give us feedback on the specification and implementations. You'll find thriving OpenXR discussions on several platforms that provide a great way to get involved and help build out the OpenXR ecosystem.

If you would like to participate directly in the development of the OpenXR standard, please consider Joining Khronos and the OpenXR Working Group.

OpenXR Conformance

OpenXR Conformance

The OpenXR Conformance Test Suite (CTS) is available on GitHub and helps to create a reliable platform for developers by ensuring that OpenXR is implemented consistently across all platforms. If your company is developing a product that implements OpenXR, and passes CTS, then you should consider becoming an official adopter to enjoy the following benefits, and you don't need to be a Khronos member to become an Adopter.

  • Usage of the OpenXR name and logo in association with your product
  • IP protection under the Khronos IP Framework
  • Products promoted in the Khronos OpenXR Conformant Products listing

OpenXR Supporting Quotes

Industry Support for OpenXR 1.1

Alfredo Muniz
Chair of the OpenXR Working Group, and CTO, XEED

“OpenXR 1.1 marks a significant milestone in the development of this open standard that has become widely adopted throughout the XR industry. OpenXR 1.0 provided baseline capabilities and the foundation for experimentation with new functionality through extensions. Now the Working Group is pivoting to manage regular core specification updates that balance the need for flexibility to ship new functionality with consolidation of proven technology to reduce fragmentation and enable true cross-platform application portability. By simplifying development while fostering innovation, we aim to empower developers to concentrate on creating groundbreaking immersive, cross-platform experiences. OpenXR 1.1 embodies the collective dedication of the Working Group and the extended XR community to refine and advance the OpenXR standard while being responsive to the dynamic requirements of a rapidly evolving ecosystem.”

Frederic Plourde
XR lead, Collabora

“Collabora is thrilled about the release of OpenXR 1.1, a significant milestone that underscores the importance given to free standards in the XR industry. As pioneers in the free and open source XR ecosystem, Collabora has made substantial investments in Monado, the leading open source OpenXR runtime, to ensure seamless compatibility and performance across a wide range of devices. We would like to take this opportunity to deeply appreciate the dedicated efforts of the OpenXR Working Group members who generously contributed their time, expertise, and insights to bring this release to reality. We eagerly anticipate the broader OpenXR adoption that will result from this release.”

Steven Zhang
Founder and CEO, Kivisense

"We are delighted to know about the OpenXR 1.1 version release. Kivisense has been intensively exploring the frontier innovation in the AR world with our AR engine service. As a long time supporter of OpenXR and an ecosystem partner, we appreciated huge efforts by members in the working group who contributed their time and wisdom in it and got it completed. We will keep our AR engine service as part of OpenXR ecosystem and help to make it more prosperous."

Jonathan Wright
senior staff engineer, Meta

"Meta has been committed to building an open, cross-platform standard for the XR industry since the inception of the OpenXR standard in 2016. The OpenXR 1.1 release is one more step towards making it easier for developers to build XR applications. We continue to support the evolution of the OpenXR standard as we work to build an open and interoperable XR ecosystem."

Jian Zhang
Head of XR Foundation engineering, PICO

"PICO is excited about the OpenXR 1.1 release, which marks another important step towards improving industry standardization for cross-platform XR applications development. PICO has been an adopter of OpenXR 1.0, providing a conformant runtime on PICO Neo3 and PICO 4 devices since 2022. PICO actively contributed to the OpenXR 1.1 specification discussions, and our runtime implementation will soon be updated to fully support OpenXR 1.1. We look forward to continuing to advance cross-platform XR development together with the Working Group and the community."

Brian Vogelsang
Senior Director Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies

"Snapdragon Spaces is the platform of choice for many Virtual, Mixed, and Augmented Reality OpenXR conformant products today. We are thrilled with the release of the OpenXR 1.1 specification and the promotion of new extensions that accelerate the pace of innovation in XR and foster an open ecosystem and community. This is an important milestone for the XR industry, reducing fragmentation and adding new features that simplify the creation of immersive applications for developers."

Yu Zhang
Vice president software development, XREAL

"XREAL enthusiastically welcomes the OpenXR 1.1 release, a key milestone in fostering unified development for immersive experiences. We are gearing up for the launch of our new product lineup in 2024, which includes an innovative computing device, a continuously updated SDK package, and the XREAL Nebula OS. Committed to integrating OpenXR 1.1 specifications across our entire product line, we aim to provide developers with the essential tools for crafting innovative AR and VR experiences across platforms. We're excited to contribute to this global endeavor, advancing the potential of virtual and augmented reality."

Asii Wu
Vice President, HTC

"This marks a significant milestone for OpenXR—an impressive achievement in advancing an open ecosystem. At HTC, we remain committed to open standards, streamlining the creation of XR experiences. We will continue to support OpenXR 1.1 for both PC and AIO, are excited about the new release and look forward to the thriving growth of the OpenXR community."

Yi Xu
Director of XR Technology, OPPO

"OPPO is excited about the OpenXR 1.1 global release. It's a critical achievement for the XR industry to build a prosperous XR ecosystem. As a long-time supporter of OpenXR, we are applying OpenXR specification on OPPO's XR products. OPPO is an innovative company in exploring technologies, products, content, and services for XR. Equipped with the advanced capabilities of OpenXR to empower developers, our latest OPPO MR Glass Developer Edition represents our continuous exploration in this direction."

Zhang Song
Head of Software Technology, Play For Dream Technologies

"Our company is committed to building an open and inclusive XR content ecosystem to promote XR content prosperity, which is in line with the original intention of the OpenXR standard. Today, the OpenXR 1.1 version has been released, and we are honored to continue embracing this standard, providing developers with a more compatible and efficient development experience, allowing them to focus more on creative work and further enrich the XR application ecosystem and scenarios. We believe this will also bring great value to our upcoming next-generation spatial computing devices."

Zhemin Li
head of International Business Group, Rokid

"Rokid congratulates OpenXR 1.1 release and its new achievement, and we are very supportive of industry’s effort on OpenXR, and appreciate its positive contribution over a long period of time. Rokid is a company focusing on human-computer interaction, hoping to make human life better through advanced technologies, and also hopes to make XR more affordable through our efforts. Rokid currently has many AR products in the market and will release a new generation of personal spatial computing suite in the near future, which will further narrow the distance between the technology and ordinary people."

David Chu
vice president of Spatial Computing and XR, NVIDIA,

"NVIDIA regards OpenXR as a key open standard as it enables portable access to diverse XR devices. OpenXR 1.1 is an important step in consolidating important functionality while reducing fragmentation for developers. NVIDIA is working to leverage OpenXR in its CloudXR Suite that enables flexible delivery of sophisticated immersive experiences to a broad range of devices."

Peter Kuhn
Principal software engineer, Unity

"Unity is excited for the release of OpenXR 1.1, a step forward for standardization in the XR industry. As advocates for open ecosystems and interoperability, we recognize the importance of OpenXR in simplifying development workflows and empowering creators to build immersive experiences that can seamlessly run across a variety of hardware platforms. With OpenXR 1.1, developers using Unity can expect enhanced compatibility which will ultimately accelerate the growth of the XR community and unlock new possibilities for immersive storytelling."

Nathan Nuber
Programmer, Valve

"OpenXR 1.1 brings clarity and ease of use to the widespread OpenXR standard. With the most commonly used extensions now included in the core, it will be easier for developers to have confidence in relying on the features they need. These updates also promote simplicity and uniformity as new features are added down the line; something we’re super into given our goal of an ecosystem that can apply a developer’s work across hardware and runtimes."

Denny Rönngren
OpenXR system architect, Varjo

"Varjo has been a contributor and adopter of OpenXR since 2019, and we are excited to be able to equip our enterprise customers with the cutting-edge capabilities of OpenXR 1.1. Among other important updates, the quad view configuration is a core part of this release, lowering the threshold for developers to render in human-eye resolution with Varjo's mixed reality headsets. We look forward to the transformative impact OpenXR 1.1 will have on the XR industry at large."

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Join Khronos and OpenXR

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Join Khronos and Help Drive the Evolution of OpenXR

The Khronos OpenXR Working Group is actively driving the evolution of the standard and its accompanying conformance tests and the broader ecosystem. Any organization is welcome to join Khronos to shape this important global initiative under the group’s multi-company, consensus-based governance process. Khronos has multiple levels of membership to enable any organization, large or small to get involved. If you want to participate directly in the development of the OpenXR standard please consider Joining Khronos and the OpenXR Working Group.

  • Join the Khronos Group
  • Current Khronos Members
  • Adopt Khronos Standards
  • Contact {encode=memberservices@khronosgroup.org title="Members Services"} for additional information

Khronos Standard Additional links and information

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OpenXR - High-performance access to AR and VR —collectively known as XR— platforms and devices (2024)

FAQs

OpenXR - High-performance access to AR and VR —collectively known as XR— platforms and devices? ›

What is OpenXR

XR
Extended reality (XR) is an umbrella term to refer to augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR).
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Extended_reality
? ​ As defined officially by the Khronos Group: “OpenXR is a royalty-free, open standard that provides high-performance access to Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)—collectively known as XR—platforms and devices.”

Is Oculus compatible with OpenXR? ›

OpenXR is standard for developers to create applications (such as Flight Simulator 2020) that use virtual reality or augmented reality (or XR as the industry calls it) that run on modern devices (such as the HP Reverb or Oculus Quest).

Which devices support OpenXR? ›

Conformant OpenXR Runtimes
  • Acer: Spatial Display Series.
  • ByteDance: Neo3 and PICO4.
  • Canon: MREAL Platform Displays and Headsets.
  • Collabora: Monado open-source OpenXR runtime.
  • HTC: Vive Focus 3, Vive Cosmos & Vive Wave.
  • Magic Leap: Magic Leap 2.
  • Meta: Quest 3, Quest Pro, Quest 2, Quest and Rift S and Meta XR Simulator.

What is OpenXR used for? ›

OpenXR is an open-source, royalty-free standard for access to virtual reality and augmented reality platforms and devices. It is developed by a working group managed by the Khronos Group consortium.

What is the difference between OpenXR and Oculus? ›

Key Differences Between OpenXR and Oculus

Abilities and Performance: OpenXR delivers high performance, reducing latency for end users, ensuring broad compatibility. Oculus offers user-friendly, high-quality VR experiences but within its own ecosystem.

Which VR games use OpenXR? ›

Here's a list of games we'd recommend using OpenXR for:
  • - American Truck Simulator 2.
  • - Assetto Corsa.
  • - Assetto Corsa Competizione.
  • - Automobilista 2.
  • - DCS World.
  • - Dirt Rally 2.
  • - Elite Dangerous.
  • - Euro Truck Simulator 2.
May 11, 2024

How do I activate OpenXR? ›

What should I do if I have trouble running OpenXR titles?
  1. On your computer, open SteamVR settings.
  2. Under Advanced Settings, click Show.
  3. Click Developer.
  4. Check if Current OpenXR Runtime is set to SteamVR. If Current OpenXR Runtime is not set to SteamVR, click SET STEAMVR AS OPENXR RUNTIME.
  5. Run the OpenXR title again.

How do I install OpenXR? ›

  1. From your computer, open the SteamVR app.
  2. Head to Settings.
  3. Select Show in Advanced Settings.
  4. Head to the Developer tab.
  5. Set Current OpenXR runtime as "OpenXR runtime"
  6. Launch Microsoft Flight Simulator.
  7. Put your headset on.
Jan 27, 2024

Is the OpenXR toolkit safe? ›

Run the OpenXR-Toolkit.msi program.

The application is built on a GitHub server hosted in the Microsoft cloud, which greatly limits the risk of contamination from viruses and malware.

Where can I find OpenXR? ›

OpenXR Tools for Windows Mixed Reality - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store.

How do I switch to OpenXR? ›

SteamVR
  1. Open SteamVR.
  2. Open the settings from the hamburger menu.
  3. Click Show 'Advanced Settings' at the bottom left corner.
  4. Select the Developer tab.
  5. Press 'Set SteamVR as OpenXR runtime'

What is the difference between OpenXR and Microsoft? ›

Key Differences Between OpenXR and Windows Mixed Reality

OpenXR provides high-performance, royalty-free access to AR/VR, while Windows Mixed Reality operates mainly in VR space. Windows Mixed Reality aims at mass-market entry with compatibility with standard laptops and PCs, OpenXR focuses on extensive hardware reach.

Does OpenXR support hand tracking? ›

Unity OpenXR provides support for the Hand Tracking extension specified by Khronos. Use this feature to have Unity manage and update an XRHandSubsystem .

Does virtual desktop use OpenXR? ›

This program is an implementation of the OpenXR standard for Virtual Desktop on Windows. It allows you to run OpenXR applications without SteamVR.

Does OpenXR work on Android? ›

The OpenXR Tutorial has detailed instructions for creating applications using the Android, Linux or Windows operating system. Currently supported graphics APIs include: Direct3D 11.

Does Meta Quest 3 support OpenXR? ›

Our AR Foundation support for Meta Quest 3 is built on top of OpenXR. For several years, we've maintained and distributed an OpenXR plug-in that provides an implementation of the OpenXR standard within the Unity engine and establishes a common interface between XR hardware and software.

Does Meta support OpenXR? ›

The Meta OpenXR Feature package enables Meta Quest device support for your AR Foundation projects. Enable, disable, and configure AR on the target platform. Track the device's position and rotation in physical space. Render images from device cameras and perform light estimation.

Should I use OpenXR with Quest 2? ›

THE DEVELOPER DOES NOT RECOMMEND TO INSTALL/USE OPENXR TOOLKIT, AS IT IS KNOWN TO CAUSE ISSUES WITH MANY OF THE NEWER GAMES RELEASED IN SINCE 2024. The goal of OpenXR Toolkit was to demonstrate how certain features could be built for VR and how they would benefit end users by increasing quality and/or performance.

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