WebXR Device API is a Web application programming interface (API) that describes support for accessing augmented reality and virtual reality devices, such as the

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Google Cardboard Google Cardboard is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google. Named for its fold-out cardboard viewer into which a smartphone is inserted, the platform was intended as a low-cost system to encourage interest and developme ...

, HoloLens,

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or Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR), in a

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. The WebXR Device API and related APIs are standards defined by W3C groups, the Immersive Web Community Group and Immersive Web Working Group. While the Community Group works on the proposals in the incubation period, the Working Group defines the final web specifications to be implemented by the browsers. WebVR was an experimental Web API that was only capable of representing virtual reality and was superseded by WebXR.

History

WebVR API was first conceived in spring 2014 by Vladimir Vukićević from

Mozilla Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, w ...

. The API's contributors include Brandon Jones(Google), Boris Smus and others from the Mozilla team. On March 1, 2016, the Mozilla VR team and the Google Chrome team announced the version 1.0 release of the WebVR API proposal. The resulting API refactoring brought many improvements to WebVR. The latest WebXR Device API Working Draft was last published in February 2022. The editors of the specification currently are from

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

and Meta. Other members from

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and

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, as well as varies startups and invited experts have input in the future of the specification. All of the discussions of the specifications are public on GitHub. In 2018, the WebXR Device API superseded WebVR, being designed for both augmented reality, virtual reality devices and the possible future realities and devices. WebVR was implemented in Firefox and Chromium-based browsers before being deprecated and removed. On September 24, 2018, the Immersive Web Working Group became official.

Design

The WebXR Device API exposes a few new interfaces (such as XRView, XRPose) that allow

web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serv ...

s to present content in

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...

and augmented reality, by using

WebGL WebGL (Short for Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 2D and 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins. WebGL is fully integrated with other web standards, allowing GPU-accelera ...

with the necessary camera settings and device interactions (such as controllers or point of view).

Support

WebXR Device API
Working Draft) is currently partially supported in the release version of Edge and Chrome 79+ and was supported by Chrome for Android until version 98+, Opera 66+, Opera Mobile 64+ and in Samsung Internet 12+ Oculus Browser.

Similar technologies

Although WebXR is unique as an API, there are native applications on most hardware allowing for networked experiences and access to web content. Several key tools, such as

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and

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, are also able to export for the web and provide users a way to use their content without installing a dedicated application.

References

External links

Fundamentals of WebXR
on

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