{"id":3470,"date":"2025-10-20T09:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/?p=3470"},"modified":"2026-01-30T20:40:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T01:40:41","slug":"webgl-matlabs-new-graphics-rendering-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/graphics-and-apps\/2025\/10\/20\/webgl-matlabs-new-graphics-rendering-system\/","title":{"rendered":"WebGL: MATLAB\u2019s New Graphics Rendering System"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Portrait<\/td>\nGuest Writer: Maddie Moon<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Maddie first worked with the Graphics and App Building team during her Engineering Development Group (EDG) internship in 2023. After graduating college, she joined MathWorks full-time and eventually found her way to the Advanced Support Group (ASG). Through her role in ASG, Maddie continues to work with the Graphics and App Building team to ensure long-term customer success through work with customers, technical support, and the development teams. When she's not working with these teams, Maddie enjoys crocheting (and knitting!) and running around with Lucy, her dog.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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\"Open<\/a><\/p>\n

As you probably know by now, MATLAB graphics just got a major upgrade\u2014R2025a marks the full shift in rendering to WebGL, our most robust and stable renderer yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you\u2019ve ever run into a graphics crash and been told to \u201cuse software OpenGL\u201d without really knowing why, you\u2019re not alone. Our Technical Support team has seen thousands of cases like this over the years. With WebGL now behind all MATLAB graphics, those issues and workarounds are becoming a thing of the past.<\/div>\n
Today I\u2019ll walk you through what this transition means, why it matters, and how it improves your MATLAB experience\u2014whether you're building apps, creating charts, or have previously experienced low-level graphics issues.<\/div>\n

Background<\/h2>\n
To understand why this change matters, let\u2019s take a quick look back.<\/div>\n
Before WebGL became the default in R2025a, MATLAB graphics underwent another major transformation in R2014b, which introduced a new graphics system featuring improved rendering, anti-aliasing, and object-oriented graphics handles . As MATLAB evolved, we recognized the opportunity to deliver a more consistent experience across desktop and web platforms by advancing our technology.<\/div>\n
We needed a more web-friendly alternative\u2014and that\u2019s where WebGL comes in.<\/div>\n
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WebGL isn\u2019t brand new in R2025a. If you\u2019ve used recent releases of MATLAB such as R2024b, you\u2019ve already seen it in action: WebGL has been the renderer of choice for uifigure<\/span><\/a> for a while now. You can even confirm this yourself by calling rendererinfo<\/span><\/a> on an axes<\/span><\/a> generated in a regular figure and a uiaxes<\/span><\/a> generated in a uifigure<\/span>:<\/div>\n
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rendererinfo(axes)<\/div>\n
rendererinfo(uiaxes)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"MATLAB<\/div>\n
What\u2019s new in R2025a is that WebGL is now the default renderer across the board\u2014bringing us one step closer to a unified, modern graphics experience in MATLAB.<\/div>\n

Benefits of WebGL<\/h2>\n
Now that we\u2019ve covered the history, let\u2019s talk about the WebGL transition.<\/div>\n
First, the visual differences between OpenGL and WebGL are minimal. As mentioned earlier, if you\u2019ve used uifigure<\/span> in recent releases, you\u2019ve already seen WebGL in action\u2014so the transition in R2025a may even go unnoticed.<\/div>\n
Under the hood, however, there are two significant benefits: stability and robustness.<\/div>\n