Microsoft Edge WebGL GLSL transpiler open-sourced by Microsoft

1 min. read

Published on June 9, 2016

published on June 9, 2016

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Complimenting the transition of Microsoft becoming more open source with Chakra and the Microsoft Edge JacaScript engine, the company’s developer’s blog today announced that they are releasing the Microsoft Edge WebGL transpiler over to the public.

The WebGL renderer is what runs shaders on the GPU to render 3D content with the GLSL language. However, Edge uses DirectX and HLSL to render content. To put it simply, Microsoft Edge’s ability to display content relies on the transpiler converting the GLSL to HLSL shaders.

The blog states clearly Microsoft has no intention of open-sourcing Microsoft Edge or EdgeHTML anytime in the future. For now, developers are encouraged to play with the transpiler and provide honest feedback. Hopefully, some of that feedback will contribute to the improvement of the Edge WebGL.

Learn more about the GLSL to HLSL conversion through the dev blog. Download the Microsoft WebGL on the GitHub repository.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.