The Open Standard That Makes XR Development Easy
Or, Why I’m Bullish About WebXR
As I’ve highlighted often in my newsletter, one of the biggest challenges in immersive tech is fragmentation. OpenXR helps unify XR headset development, but it’s not a complete solution yet, especially for autostereoscopic displays, where OpenXR support remains inconsistent at best. Add in the need to target multiple operating systems (Windows, Android, etc.), and the complexity grows fast.
The web solves part of this problem by removing platform dependency, but you still need a way to handle diverse XR devices. That’s where WebXR shines. It abstracts away the differences between headsets, input methods, and even AR/VR modes, letting developers write once and deploy everywhere. And after years of testing standards that almost work (I am looking at you WebVR), I can confidently say: WebXR actually delivers.
What Is WebXR?
WebXR is an open standard that enables virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences directly in web browsers. It was developed by the Immerse Web Community Group at the W3C, with contributions from major players like Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, and others.
Under the hood, WebXR works by introducing key interfaces for perspective handling and tracking movement that give web apps direct access to XR capabilities. What makes this powerful is how it builds on existing web technologies: add WebXR and your 3D content rendered with WebGL automatically gets the correct camera perspectives, controller inputs, and device tracking needed for immersive experiences.
Essentially, WebXR provides everything required to bridge traditional web content into VR/AR spaces while maintaining the web's core strengths of accessibility and cross-platform compatibility. And as I will explain later, nowadays is very easy to use.
Let’s go over some reasons to like WebXR.
Standards Make Developers’ Lives Easier
One of WebXR's greatest strengths is its status as an official web standard (currently a W3C Candidate Recommendation). While standards aren't perfect and face adoption challenges, I do believe they're crucial for progress: when used well, they reduce fragmentation, simplify development, and guarantee compatibility.
The pre-WebXR landscape was chaotic. Developers struggled with deprecated APIs like WebVR or walled-garden SDKs that locked them into specific platforms. WebXR changes everything by providing a unified, well-specified API that just works across devices.
The proof is in the experience: try any WebXR demo or example on a modern XR headset and you'll immediately see the difference a true standard makes. And let’s not forget that the same web will also work in 2D in your computer or in your phone. This is why every serious XR device now ships with WebXR-compatible browsers, manufacturers recognize that ignoring the open web would be commercial suicide when so much content and innovation happens there.
The Web Runs Everywhere
One of WebXR’s biggest advantages is that it’s web-native, so no platform lock-in, no app store gatekeeping, no separate builds for different operating systems. Whether you’re on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, or iOS, WebXR just works (as long as your browser supports it). Sure, some browsers (looking at you, Safari) have been slow to adopt it, but the major players (Chrome, Firefox, and Edge) have supported WebXR for a while. Nowadays, compatibility is rarely an issue.
It’s easy to take the web for granted. After decades of evolution, websites might look familiar, but the underlying technology keeps advancing at an incredible pace. I’ll give you an example: for years, WebGL was the backbone of real-time 3D graphics on the web, powering everything from games to data visualizations. These days, WebGPU is emerging as its successor as is designed to be faster, more efficient, and better suited for modern GPU capabilities.
At first glance, you might not even notice the difference. Your WebXR experiences will still run smoothly, just as before—but under the hood, WebGPU enables better performance, lower power consumption, and access to advanced rendering techniques that weren’t practical with WebGL. This shift won’t break existing apps (WebGL isn’t going away anytime soon), but it opens up new possibilities for more complex simulations, richer visuals, and smoother VR/AR experiences, all still running in the browser.
And that’s the hidden power of the web: many web technologies evolve silently, replacing older systems without disrupting the user experience. Just as WebGPU is now succeeding WebGL, we see similar transitions everywhere: WASM (WebAssembly) is gradually replacing asm.js for near-native performance, and modern CSS features like Flexbox and Grid have made float-based layouts obsolete. Even JavaScript itself keeps advancing: ES6 modules replaced script tags for many applications, while modern frameworks automatically handle DOM updates that once required manual jQuery manipulations. These changes often happen in the background, making the web faster and more capable without users ever noticing the switch.
Incredibly Easy to Use
If you’ve ever worked with Three.js or React Three Fiber, adding WebXR support is almost trivial. With Three.js, is just a few lines of code. In React Three Fiber, you just wrap your scene in a <XR> component. The barrier to entry is so low that any web developer can start experimenting with XR without needing deep expertise in native VR/AR development.
At Nu Kraken, we created a short video explaining the process of making a full real time 3D scene using three.js and WebXR, you can watch the process here:
It Just Works
Let's face it, web standards often struggle with partial implementations and inconsistent browser support. But WebXR breaks this pattern by actually delivering on its promise. It's remarkably stable, well-supported across major browsers, and consistently enables high-quality XR experiences without the usual headaches.
We've all encountered those frustrating 'almost-working' applications—software that does 90% of what you need, but that last crucial 10% remains just out of reach. WebXR flips this script. While some fine-tuning is inevitable (you're bridging 2D and 3D experiences, after all), the foundation simply works. No workarounds. No unexpected limitations. This reliability makes all the difference in creating and using immersive web experiences.
Final Thoughts
WebXR removes the friction of traditional XR development, leverages the universality of the web, and just works. As more devices and browsers improve support, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re going to see an explosion of immersive web experiences.
If you’re a developer, now’s the time to dive in. The future is open, accessible, and built on the web.