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KhronosGroup/MoltenVK

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MoltenVK is a Vulkan Portability implementation. It layers a subset of the high-performance, industry-standard Vulkan graphics and compute API over Apple's Metal graphics framework, enabling Vulkan applications to run on macOS, iOS and tvOS.

57 mentions on Hacker News by 56 people: 4 stories, 53 comments · first 2018-04-04 · latest 2026-10-25

Mentions per year 57 mentions · busiest year 2018 (12)
20082026
  1. …then we have a problem. Again. These PRs, issues, articles look completely legit . Like this one: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/pull/2724 No bad intentions involved: the person just simply couldn't tell when the LLM was…
  2. …add the things needed for MoltenVK to support Vulkan 1.4 with those extensions on top of Metal: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/203 It is a shame that they do not work with Valve on these things. If they did, Proton likely…
    comment by ryao · 2025-10-15 · in Apple M5 chip
  3. …has a vulkan-like API and cross compiles to all the various GPU frameworks. I believe it uses https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK to run on Macs. You can also see the metal shader transpilation results for debugging.
  4. …the same issues Alyssa was talking about in her talk [1, the last comment on the issue is hers] [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/1524
    comment by skoczko · 2024-11-01 · in An Update on Apple M1/M2 GPU Drivers
  5. MoltenVK doesn't support geometry shaders for ~3 years now[0] [0] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/1524
    comment by slimsag · 2024-10-11 · in AAA Gaming on Asahi Linux
  6. Cause MoltenVK [1] is used, I think. --- [1]: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by wsc981 · 2024-10-11 · in AAA Gaming on Asahi Linux
  7. Yeah, no native Vulkan on macOS. MoltenVK[0] is a workaround. Decent for some projects. [0] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  8. …some gotchas, such as you can not use geometry shaders because Metal does not support them. [1]: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  9. https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK proves that it is possible, but it is limited by having to go through Metal.
    comment by 58028641 · 2024-06-06 · in Vulkan1.3 on the M1 in one month
  10. https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK Translating between rendering APIs is not really the problem. The GPU design is more different than the API is.
  11. …khronos.org/blog/vk-ext-descriptor-buffer And that's Vulkan 1.3 which MoltenVK doesn't support (yet): https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/1776
    comment by shmerl · 2023-08-21 · in 5 years ago Valve released Proton
  12. Khronos maintains MoltenVk though, which is as "official" as it gets: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK ...technically, Vulkan on Windows is also only supported via 3rd-parties (the GPU vendors), so the situation isn't actually all…
    comment by flohofwoe · 2023-07-08 · in Meta releases Intermediate Graphics Library
  13. …and works well on M1/M2 hardware. It's used by many commercial game ports to Mac/iOS devices. https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  14. …your application/game doesn't rely on those features. You can find all the details in this issue: - https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/203 Reading the latest comments there it sounds like things may improve once Metal 3 is out.
  15. Can't devs who want to target Vulkan just use MoltenVK? https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by gernb · 2022-11-25 · in Factorio runs on Apple Silicon
  16. Does it now have all features that DXVK need to function? There are no details on their repository: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/203
    comment by SXX · 2022-10-29 · in MGL – OpenGL 4.6 on Metal
  17. …Metal graphics framework, enabling Vulkan applications to run on macOS, iOS and tvOS. —- [0]: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  18. …Vulkan and then add an abstraction layer like MoltenVK[1] to make it work on MacOS if needed? [1]: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  19. …I dont think OpenGL is supported on OSX anymore. However Vulkan has MoltenVK which works on OSX - https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK MoltenVK is officially supported and is a big part of the Vulkan Portability initiative -…
  20. …who that would be because there doesn't seem to be a good enough reason for any group to do it. https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK Plenty of "native" Mac games can't be bothered to utilize Metal directly and just use this instead.…
  21. See this comment on that issue: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/1244#issueco...
  22. …for M1 would come with very surprising performance cliffs for a developer. One of them: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/1244
  23. How about MoltenVK? https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  24. …is a community effort [1]. [0] https://www.anandtech.com/show/12894/apple-deprecates-opengl... [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK edit: If you have something to add to the conversation, feel free to enlighten us. It does gets…
  25. …like OpenGL uses comes with costs, too. Vulkan is supported pretty well on Apple through MoltenVK: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK Mesa does software implementation of Vulkan, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_(computer_graph…
    comment by da_big_ghey · 2020-12-22 · in V (Vlang) 0.2
  26. …Metal was released before Vulkan existed, and Khronos already has a compatibility layer available ( https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK ) - I don’t think graphics APIs are the issue here.
  27. …This means that Java will now have to maintain two separate graphics implementations. [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by dstaley · 2020-11-27 · in Metal for IntelliJ Platform
  28. …considerations because if that were the only concern why not go with Vulkan, an industry standard? https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK Battery life might be a good reason
    comment by gravypod · 2020-11-27 · in Metal for IntelliJ Platform
  29. …enabling Vulkan applications to run on iOS and macOS." [1] [0] https://moltengl.com/moltenvk/ [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  30. …it's a 1st party library, since it's the core of the Khronos Group's Vulkan SDK on mac/iOS. https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by dangerbird2 · 2020-05-06 · in Point of WebGPU on Native
  31. Solutions exist to translate Vulkan to Metal. https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by ahyattdev · 2020-01-24 · in Ending Support for macOS and Linux
  32. …games. They have used it since 2018 for Dota 2[2], but I can't find a lot of uptake by others. [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK [2] https://www.khronos.org/news/permalink/vulkan-support-for-do...
  33. Moreover, it is even implemented[1] by the Khronos Group itself. [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  34. …those heavily invested or interested in porting existing OpenGL projects (I plan on evaluating it): https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  35. …because they're not implemented in Metal, but they are considered optional in the Vulkan spec. https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/blob/master/Docs/Mo...
  36. …possible yes. I don't know if one already exist for OpenGL, but for Vulkan there's MoltenVK: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by tollyx · 2019-07-30 · in Blender 2.80
  37. …but MoltenVK[0] which was formerly a proprietary option for Vulcan on Metal is open sourced now. 0: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/blob/master/README....
    comment by kjeetgill · 2019-06-16 · in Ray Tracing with Metal [video]
  38. Although not an ideal solution, MoltenVK [1] does a great job at bridging that gap [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by mbroncano · 2019-06-16 · in Ray Tracing with Metal [video]
  39. …has the worst GL drivers in the industry. Even Metal is missing many features from Vulkan [1]. [1]: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/blob/master/Docs/Mo...
    comment by pcwalton · 2019-06-03 · in New Mac Pro
  40. No, they only support Metal, but there is MoltenVK: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by dnicoli · 2019-04-25 · in Flutter desktop shells
  41. …an initial Vulkan backend [1], and many other engines have them or are building them as well. 0 - https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK 1 - https://blog.magnum.graphics/announcements/2018.10/
    comment by Game_Ender · 2019-03-31 · in OpenTTD Compiled to WebAssembly
  42. You can use MoltenVK to run Vulkan via Metal ( https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK ). Apparently performance is quite good for regular 3D rendering, compute support is officially listed, but I'm not at all sure what performance is…
    comment by Benjamin_Dobell · 2018-11-22 · in OpenCV 4.0
  43. …at the moment. -------------------- https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/28/why-macos-mojave-... https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  44. I saw MoltenVK under KhronosGroup control here, which led to my confusion once more: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK And yea, the messaging is confusing because of this line on their site: > As a first deliverable from the Vulkan…
  45. There's an issue for this on the MoltenVK github page: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/issues/193
  46. …the APIs called out. Also you will take a perf hit regardless of how well the shim is written. [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK/blob/master/Docs/Mo...
  47. While not the best solution, there is MoltenVK [0] which handles Metal from Vulkan code. 0: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
  48. …to wind up happening is more software like ANGLE ( https://github.com/google/angle ), MoltenVK ( https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK ), and gfx-rs ( https://github.com/gfx-rs/gfx and https://github.com/gfx-rs/portability , see…
    comment by lambda · 2018-06-06 · in Deprecation of OpenGL and OpenCL
  49. …you can still use Vulkan on iOS and Mac OS through MoltenVK[1], a Vulkan implemention in Metal. [1] https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK
    comment by Sephr · 2018-06-04 · in Deprecation of OpenGL and OpenCL
  50. Well, at least MoltenVK is completely open source now (Apache 2 license). https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK So yes, Vulkan is kind of the universal graphics API now.
    comment by DiThi · 2018-06-04 · in Deprecation of OpenGL and OpenCL