OpenGL ES

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Original author(s)	ARB
Developer(s)	Khronos Group
Initial release	28 July 2003; 21 years ago (2003-07-28)
Stable release	3.2[1] / 10 August 2015; 9 years ago (2015-08-10)
Operating system	Cross-platform
Platform	Cross-platform
Successor	Vulkan
Type	API
License	Free of charge, royalty or licensing
Website	www.khronos.org/opengles

OpenGL for Embedded Systems (OpenGL ES or GLES) is a subset^[2] of the OpenGL computer graphics rendering application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D computer graphics such as those used by video games, typically hardware-accelerated using a graphics processing unit (GPU). It is designed for embedded systems like smartphones, tablet computers, video game consoles and PDAs. OpenGL ES is the "most widely deployed 3D graphics API in history".^[3]

The API is cross-language and multi-platform. The GLU library and the original GLUT are not available for OpenGL ES, freeglut however, supports it. OpenGL ES is managed by the non-profit technology consortium Khronos Group. Vulkan, a next-generation API from Khronos, is made for simpler high performance drivers for mobile and desktop devices.^[4]