WebGL & WebGL 2.0
The established GPU rendering API in browsers. Powers Three.js, Babylon.js, PixiJS, MapboxGL, Google Earth, and countless games and visualizations. WebGL 2.0 has near-universal support and is the baseline for serious graphics work.
What It Defines
JavaScript API for GPU-accelerated 2D and 3D rendering in the browser via <canvas>. WebGL 1.0 is based on OpenGL ES 2.0; WebGL 2.0 exposes OpenGL ES 3.0 features (3D textures, transform feedback, instanced rendering, uniform buffer objects, multiple render targets). Supports GLSL shaders, textures, framebuffers, and vertex buffers.
Canonical (Normative)
Convenient (Practical)
Industry consortium that publishes open graphics, compute, and media standards. Maintains WebGL, OpenGL ES, Vulkan, and related GPU interface specifications used across browsers and native platforms.
Related Specs
The successor to WebGL with dramatically better performance and GPU compute support. Enables ML inference on GPU, real-time ray tracing, physics simulation, and AAA-quality rendering in the browser. Ships in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
The spec behind every HTML page, form, and browser API. The canonical reference for how browsers actually parse and process HTML.