:star: About

July 22, 2023 · View on GitHub

:video_game: Discord Chat

Got a question about Ultralight? Chat with us on Discord!

:star: About

Ultralight makes it easy for C/C++ developers to seamlessly integrate web-content into games and desktop apps.

Use our lightweight, high-performance renderer to display HTML/JS/CSS on a variety of platforms and hardware targets.

Key Features

1. :zap: Modern HTML/JS/CSS Support:: Based on WebKit, Ultralight enjoys many of the same cutting-edge web features as Apple's Safari browser, simplifying development and reducing production costs.
2. :sparkles: Powerful and Lightweight:: Thanks to its highly-customizable CPU and GPU renderers, Ultralight offers developers unprecedented control over performance and memory usage-- making it the go-to choice for users who demand speed in constrained environments.
3. :jigsaw: Cross-Platform Compatibility:: With support for Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox, PS4, and PS5 (and ARM64 coming in 1.4), Ultralight ensures your content displays smoothly and consistently on a wide range of platforms and hardware targets.
4. :repeat: Deep C/C++ and JavaScript Integration:: Ultralight facilitates seamless C/C++ and JavaScript integration through direct access to the JavaScriptCore API. Expose native state to web pages, extend JavaScript classes, define C/C++ callbacks, and more.
5. :wrench: Low-Level Customization:: Ultralight allows developers the ability to override platform-specific functionality-- granting control over such things as file-system access, clipboard management, font loading, and more to suit the unique needs of each target environment.

:space_invader: For Game Developers

Developed in collaboration with top AAA game studios, Ultralight is engineered to display high-performance web-content across a diverse set of hardware targets and game engine environments.

Choose between our CPU renderer for fast, reliable rendering or our customizable GPU renderer for unparalleled animation performance.

→ Learn more by visiting our Game Integration Guide.

:desktop_computer: For Desktop-App Developers

Get the best of both worlds-- save time by building your front-end with HTML/CSS/JS while retaining the power and performance of C/C++.

Embed the renderer directly within your existing run loop or leverage our AppCore framework to do all the heavy lifting for you, offering convenient native window management and accelerated rendering.

→ Learn more by visiting our Desktop App Guide.

:classical_building: Architecture

Ultralight is a platform-agnostic port of WebKit for games and desktop apps.

Portions of the library are open-source, here's how the library is laid out:

	Description	License	Source Code
UltralightCore	Low-level graphics renderer	Proprietary	(Available with license)
WebCore	HTML layout engine (WebKit fork)	LGPL/BSD	ultralight-ux/WebCore
Ultralight	View, compositor, and event logic	Proprietary	(Avaiable with license)
AppCore	:sparkles: Optional, desktop app runtime	LGPL	ultralight-ux/AppCore

:rocket: Dual High-Performance Renderers

We offer two different renderers for integration into a variety of target environments.

:sparkle: CPU Renderer	:eight_spoked_asterisk: GPU Renderer
Fast, lightweight, and easy to integrate. Renders to a 32-bit BGRA pixel buffer. Based on Skia, accelerated via multi-threaded SIMD. See the Game Integration Guide for more info.	High-performance, customizable, and portable. Renders on the GPU to a texture. Accelerated via tesselated geometry and pixel shaders. See Using a Custom GPUDriver for more info.

:lock: Licensing

It's easy to license Ultralight in projects big and small.

:heart_eyes: Free License	:crown: Commercial License
Free for non-commercial use. Free for commercial use by indie companies (< $100K annual revenue). Full SDK available for all users, download and try now. See LICENSE.txt for more info.	Paid licenses for commercial use. Enterprise licensing, custom contracts, and volume discounts available. Performance tools, extra configurations, and source code. See our website for more info.

:eyes: Getting the Latest SDK

You can get the latest SDK for each platform below (contact us for Xbox, PS4, and PS5):

Getting Archived Binaries for a Specific Commit

Pre-built binares are uploaded to the following S3 buckets every commit:

Archived Binaries: https://ultralight-sdk.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/

:hammer_and_wrench: Building the Samples

To build the samples in this repo, please follow the instructions here.

:information_source: Useful Links

Link	URL
Join our Discord!	https://chat.ultralig.ht
Docs / Getting Started	https://docs.ultralig.ht
Browse C++ API	https://ultralig.ht/api/cpp/1_3_0/
Browse C API	https://ultralig.ht/api/c/1_3_0/
Follow Us on Twitter	https://twitter.com/ultralight_ux