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An Overview of Graphics Debugging Tools


Desktop graphics debugger

Tool Vendor Host Device D3D OpenGL Comment
apitrace open-source desktop-OS desktop-OS 8~11 OpenGL/ES link
VOGL Valve Linux Linux   OpenGL link
Renderdoc Crytek Windows Windows 11.0 / 11.1   link
PIX Microsoft Win Win 9~11   DX SDK, replaced by VS Graphics Debugger
VS Graphics Debugger Microsoft Win Win 9~11.1   Bundled with VS 2012 pro, link
GLIntercept open-source Win Win   OpenGL link
Nsight NVIDIA desktop-OS desktop-OS 9/11 OpenGL 4.2 Also supprots OpenCL/CUDA/C++ AMP, Needs Visual Studio / Eclipse, link
CodeXL AMD Win/Linux Win/Linux   OpenGL formly gDEBugger, also supports OpenCL, link
GPU PerfStudio AMD Win Win 10/11 OpenGL link
GPA-d3d Intel Windows Windows 9~11   link

Android graphics debugger

Tool Vendor Host Device OpenGL Comment
Android-glTracer Google ES link    
Mali Graphics Debugger ARM Win/Linux Android/Linux ES Also supports OpenCL, link
PVRTrace/PVRTune Imagination desktop-OS iOS/Android/PC ES link
PerfHUD ES NVIDIA desktop-OS Tegra-Android ES link
Tegra Graphics Debugger NVIDIA desktop-OS Tegra K1 4.x / ES link
GPA-es Intel desktop-OS Atom-Android ES link

WebGL debugger

Tool Vendor Browser Comment
WebGL-Inspector open-source any link
Chrome Canvas Inspector Google Chrome intro
Google Web Tracing Framework Google any github
Firefox WebGL Shader Editor Mozilla Firefox intro

My personal favorites:

  • GPA for D3D
  • GLIntercept && gDebugger for OpenGL
  • Android-glTracer for OpenGL-ES
  • Chrome Canvas Inspector for WebGL

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