Metal framework

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The Metal framework is Apple’s low-level, high-performance graphics and compute API used across its platforms for GPU-accelerated rendering and processing.

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Metal framework canonical 2

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Statements (76)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Apple framework
compute API
graphics API
abstractionLevel low-level
announcedAt Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2014
APIStyle object-oriented
category graphics and compute framework
competesWith Direct3D 12
OpenCL
OpenGL
Vulkan
designGoal high performance
low overhead
developer Apple Inc.
documentationSite Apple Developer Documentation
firstAvailableOn iOS 8
hardwareTarget Apple GPUs
linked to: Apple GPU

Apple Silicon SoCs
linked to: Apple silicon
integratesWith Core Animation
Core Image
Metal Performance Shaders
MetalFX
RealityKit
SceneKit
SpriteKit
laterExtendedTo macOS
tvOS
visionOS
watchOS
operatingSystem iOS
macOS
tvOS
visionOS
watchOS
platform Apple platforms
primaryInterfaceLanguage C++ (via headers)
Objective-C
Swift
provides blit command encoders
command buffers
command queues
compute command encoders
render command encoders
purpose GPU-accelerated compute processing
GPU-accelerated graphics rendering
replaces OpenCL on Apple platforms
OpenGL on Apple platforms
resourceModel explicit resource management
shaderLanguage Metal Shading Language
shaderLanguageType C++-like shading language
supports 2D graphics
3D graphics
GPGPU
GPU compute
argument buffers
compute shaders
function specialization
graphics shaders
indirect command buffers
multithreaded command encoding
pipeline state objects
precompiled shader libraries
ray tracing
resource heaps
sparse textures
tessellation
tile-based deferred rendering
supportsFeature GPU-driven rendering
tile shading
variable rate shading (on supported hardware)
usedFor games
image processing
machine learning workloads
professional graphics applications
video processing
vendorLockIn Apple ecosystem only

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Referenced by (2)

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MetalFX partOf Metal framework