Shader file formats

Shaders are small programs that run on the graphics card to place, light and colour what appears on screen. They are written in languages such as GLSL and HLSL and often shipped in a compiled form.

Formats

.CSO

Compiled Direct3D shader object

Compiled HLSL shaders for Direct3D: DXBC or DXIL in a container of chunks.

.GLSL

OpenGL Shading Language source

C-like shader source for OpenGL, WebGL and Vulkan.

.HLSL

High-Level Shader Language source

Microsoft’s C-like shader source for Direct3D, also compiled for Vulkan.

.METAL

Metal Shading Language source

Apple’s C++-based shader source for Metal on macOS and iOS.

.SPV

SPIR-V shader module

Compiled shaders for Vulkan and OpenGL, as a stream of 32-bit words.

.WGSL

WebGPU Shading Language source

Shader source for WebGPU in browsers and native WebGPU libraries.