# Graphics overview
The Qualcomm^®^ Adreno^™^ GPU powers the graphics subsystem and offers the following capabilities:
- Serves as a three-dimensional (3D) graphics accelerator with 64‑bit addressing.
- Incorporates the graphics memory (GMEM) as a dedicated memory for the graphics subsystem and facilitates Fast Z, color, and stencil rendering.
- Supports Qualcomm^®^ Universal Bandwidth Compression, enhancing the overall performance.
The Adreno GPU supports the following graphics and compute APIs:
- **OpenGL ES**:
[3.0](https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/specs/es/3.0/es_spec_3.0.pdf),
[3.1](https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/specs/es/3.1/es_spec_3.1.pdf),
[3.2](https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/specs/es/3.2/es_spec_3.2.pdf)
- **OpenCL**: [1.2 FP](https://registry.khronos.org/OpenCL/specs/opencl-1.2.pdf),
[2.0 FP](https://registry.khronos.org/SPIR-V/specs/1.0/OpenCL.std.20.pdf), [3.0 FP](https://registry.khronos.org/OpenCL/specs/3.0-unified/html/OpenCL_API.html)
- **EGL**: [1.5](https://registry.khronos.org/EGL/specs/eglspec.1.5.pdf)
- **Vulkan**: [1.1](https://registry.khronos.org/vulkan/#vulkan1.1)
Note
See [Hardware SoCs](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/topics/80-80022-115/soc.html) supported on Qualcomm^®^ Linux^®^.
## Graphics subsystem architecture
The graphics architecture consists of Qualcomm and open-source components, as shown in the following figure.
**Figure: Graphics subsystem architecture**
In the figure, the Adreno GPU driver renders graphics using the following process and open-source components:
1. Wayland client application initiates rendering through EGL/OpenGL ES.
2. Wayland protocol sets the registry and callbacks for rendering.
3. Graphics buffer management gets the Wayland backbuffer for rendering.
4. Adreno GPU driver submits the rendering commands to Kernel Graphics Support Layer (KGSL) using swapbuffer, glflush, or glfinish with OpenGL.
5. Weston compositor sends the rendered surfaces for composition to Adreno GPU driver.
6. Acquires a GBM surface for composing the rendered frame.
7. Adreno GPU driver submits the rendered frame.
8. Weston compositor sends the final composed buffer to display through DRM.
9. DRM submits the buffer at the back-end to the display kernel driver to show on the screen.
**Adreno GPU driver**
The Qualcomm Adreno GPU driver is a collection of user-mode precompiled libraries. The Adreno GPU driver can’t be modified and must be used as is.
**Adreno GPU firmware**
The following table lists the firmware files of the Adreno GPU hardware.
>
>
> Table: GPU firmware files
>
>
> | **Description** | Qualcomm Dragonwing ^™^ IQ-615 firmware | QCS5430/QCS6490 firmware | Qualcomm Dragonwing ^™^ IQ-8275 firmware | Qualcomm Dragonwing ^™^ IQ-9075 firmware |
> | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
> | Microcode for command processor | a630\_sqe.fw | a660\_sqe.fw | a650\_sqe.fw | a660\_sqe.fw |
> | Microcode for secure content support | a612\_zap | a660\_zap | a623\_zap | a663\_zap |
> | Microcode for graphics management unit (GMU) | a612\_rgmu.bin | a660\_gmu.bin | a623\_gmu.bin | a663\_gmu.bin |
**Kernel Graphics Support Layer (KGSL)**
KGSL serves as the kernel-mode driver for the Adreno GPU. The primary function of the KGSL driver is to submit commands generated by the Adreno user-mode driver to the Adreno GPU for processing. Additionally, the KGSL driver communicates with the GMU to ensure proper state management.
The following tables list the supported GPU libraries and KGSL driver information.
Note
The GPU libraries table is applicable only to overlay or `qcom‑multimedia‑proprietary‑image`.
Table: GPU libraries
| Library | Description |
| --- | --- |
| libCB.so.1 | Driver for GPU computing |
| libEGL\_adreno.so.1 | EGL 1.x driver |
| libeglSubDriverWayland.so.1 | EGL driver for Wayland subsystem |
| libeglSubDriverX11.so.1 | EGL driver for X11 subsystem |
| libadreno\_utils.so.1 | Utility library for Adreno GPU driver |
| libgsl.so.1 | GSL library |
| libq3dtools\_adreno.so.1 | Adreno profiler support layer |
| libGLESv1\_CM\_adreno.so.1 | OpenGL ES 1.x driver |
| libGLESv2\_adreno.so.2 | OpenGL ES 2.x/3.x driver |
| libq3dtools\_esx.so.1 | OpenGL ES profiler support layer |
| libOpenCL.so.1 | OpenCL library |
| libOpenCL\_adreno.so.1 | OpenCL library for Adreno GPU |
| libllvm-qcom.so.1 | OpenCL compiler library |
| libvulkan\_adreno.so.1 | Vulkan 1.x driver |
| libllvm-glnext.so.1 | OpenGL ES and Vulkan program binary loader |
| libllvm-qgl.so.1 | OpenGL ES and Vulkan core compiler library |
Table: KGSL driver
| **Linux kernel** | 6.6 |
| --- | --- |
| **Source code path** | ``
Note
KGSL works with the upstream device tree. |
## Next steps
- [Compile and run OpenGL ES-based applications](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-80022-19/topic/graphics-getting-started.html#compile-opengles-sample-application-glmark2)
- [Compile and run OpenCL-based applications](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-80022-19/topic/graphics-getting-started.html#opencl-sample-applications)
- [Compile and run Vulkan-based applications](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-80022-19/topic/graphics-getting-started.html#vulkan-sample-applications)
- [Compile and run X11-based applications](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-80022-19/topic/graphics-getting-started.html#x11-sample-applications)
Last Published: May 13, 2026
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