It's time for another OpenGL update says Khronos

2D AND 3D OpenGL graphics standard enthusiasts will be glad to hear that the Khronos Group has posted its latest version.

The OpenGL 4.1 update includes tools to improve recompilation times, along with 64-bit floating point processing and better developer integration and flexibility.

Also included is a set of extensions to enhance compatibility with the OpenCL parallel processing platform, as well as improvements to the handling of WebGL applications and better support to enable new functions on older graphics hardware.

The update comes shortly after the Khronos Group released OpenGL 4.0, a major update promoted as a strong challenger to the DirectX 11 standard.

"The release of OpenGL 4.1 just five months after OpenGL 4.0 shows that collaborative innovation to build market opportunities for high-performance GPU acceleration is not slowing down," said Barthold Lichtenbelt, chairman of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board.

"The Board is also working hard to ensure backwards compatibility with each release so that developers can absorb new functionality at their own pace." µ