Vulkan 1.4: Khronos mandates key graphics features

The Khronos Group has unveiled Vulkan 1.4, an update to its cross-platform 3D graphics and compute API that mandates support for numerous previously optional features.

The latest version integrates several proven capabilities into its core specification, marking a shift towards ensuring consistent functionality across different platforms whilst simplifying application development and deployment.

Geraint North, VP of Developer Platforms at Arm, said: “To meet growing consumer demand for premium mobile experiences, developers need the right tools to create more complex applications. The Vulkan 1.4 release represents a significant step forward, with new features translating to improved ease of use for developers.

“Arm remains committed to empowering developers with the tools and technologies needed to create the next generation of graphics and compute applications, and we are pleased to support Vulkan 1.4 across Arm Immortalis and Mali GPUs.”

Notable improvements include new implementation requirements for streaming transfers, ensuring applications can handle large data streams whilst maintaining optimal rendering performance. The update also makes several previously optional extensions mandatory, including push descriptors, dynamic rendering local reads, and scalar block layouts.

Sungdo Moon, EVP & Head of System R&D, Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung, commented: “We are delighted by the release of Vulkan 1.4. The latest iteration of the Vulkan API improves usability and provides a more consistent developer experience to provide the most efficient way of processing high fidelity graphics across a wide range of platforms.

“We look forward to bringing Vulkan 1.4 to our Samsung Galaxy devices, and to supporting developers in creating great experiences for our customers.”

The specification now guarantees support for 8K rendering with up to eight separate render targets, alongside various other limit increases. All maintenance extensions up to and including VK_KHR_maintenance6 have been incorporated into the core specification.

Ralph Potter, newly elected Vulkan Working Group Chair, said: “Vulkan 1.4 is a milestone release that directly brings long-requested features and proven extensions into the core standard. By mandating these capabilities, we are enhancing Vulkan’s flexibility and performance across a wider range of devices.”

Major industry players including AMD, Arm, Imagination, Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Samsung have already developed drivers that have passed Vulkan 1.4 Conformance. Mesa open-source Linux drivers have also achieved conformance across multiple hardware platforms.

Andrej Zdravkovic, SVP and Chief Software Officer at AMD, commented: “Vulkan 1.4 brings implementations across the industry to greater feature parity, requiring several features that AMD hardware has supported since Vulkan 1.0, as well as a number of newer features from the Vulkan 2022 and 2024 roadmap milestones that will help improve the developer experience.”

Thiru Sinnathamby, VP of Software Engineering at NVIDIA, added: “Vulkan 1.4 makes it easier than ever for developers to create and deploy GPU-accelerated applications.

“Today, NVIDIA is shipping conformant drivers with support for Vulkan 1.4 plus full Roadmap 2024 milestone functionality on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Linux, all supported by our updated Nsight Graphics tools.”

The Vulkan SDK will receive an update to support version 1.4 in January 2025, offering compatibility with multiple shader languages including HLSL, GLSL, and Slang—which has become a Khronos-hosted open-source project.

Developers interested in experiencing Vulkan 1.4 firsthand can attend Vulkanised 2025, scheduled for 11-13 February in Cambridge, UK, where the community will gather to discuss the API’s future and ecosystem development.

(Image Credit: Larian Studios)

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Tags: 3d, coding, development, game development, gaming, graphics, khronos group, programming, vulkan