You often need to choose between OpenXR, LibOVR, and VrApi as the API for communicating with your headset when starting out in VR/XR development. When developing in native engines, you may need to decide on an API immediately, without fully understanding the tradeoffs, unlike Unity and Unreal developers who see this choice as options in a dropdown.

All applications meant for VR/XR headsets, including the Meta Quest line of products and products made by other companies, require communication with the headset for similar information and behaviors. For example, app developers typically find the following uninteresting:

These problems are important, and headset developers create APIs to solve them. In 2016, there were three APIs to control these behaviors:

This ecosystem was difficult, requiring rewrites and per-platform bug fixes for developers releasing on multiple platforms. For example, see OpenXR Core Concepts: Input API for the choices required at that time.

In 2017, the Khronos Group, a non-profit consortium devoted to maintaining open interoperable standards for 3D graphics and VR/XR, announced OpenXR, aiming to have all major VR headset vendors use this standard for application-headset communication.

Note: LibOVR, VrApi, and OpenXR are not graphics APIs. Rather, they are APIs for communication between application and headset. Meta Quest headsets support two graphics APIs: OpenGL and Vulkan.

LibOVR (also known as CAPI) is the legacy API for PC VR applications, such as those on the Oculus Rift and Rift S. The LibOVR API is meant for applications that receive headset input, and render output on a connected PC. For information about LibOVR, see PC SDK Developer Guide.

VrApi is the legacy API for mobile VR applications, such as those on the Oculus Go and the Meta Quest series of headsets. As of August 31, 2022, VrApi library support has ended. New applications for mobile Meta Quest devices are required to use OpenXR, unless a waiver is provided.

OpenXR is the recommended API for both mobile VR and PC VR applications on Meta headsets. To learn more about using OpenXR to develop VR apps, visit the OpenXR 1.0 Specification page at the Khronos website. Khronos also provides API reference documentation and a PDF reference guide that provides an overview of the API.

For more information on OpenXR, see Meta documentation on OpenXR Core Concepts, and, depending on your target platform, OpenXR Mobile SDK or OpenXR Support for PC Development.