Gaussian splatting extension added to glTF format

The Khronos Group has released a candidate extension that adds Gaussian splatting support to its glTF file format. The KHR_gaussian_splatting extension introduces a standardized method for storing 3D Gaussian splats in glTF 2.0, with the aim of supporting interoperability across graphics, geospatial, and spatial computing workflows ahead of final ratification.

The extension is published as a release candidate to allow industry review and feedback before becoming a finalized standard. According to Khronos, the goal is to provide a common baseline that supports current production uses of Gaussian splatting while remaining flexible enough to accommodate changes in rendering and compression techniques. Gaussian splatting represents scenes using collections of optimized Gaussian primitives derived from image data, enabling real-time radiance field rendering with high visual fidelity and interactive performance.

Gaussian splats have seen growing adoption in geospatial capture, digital twins, infrastructure visualization, and large-scale urban modeling, where traditional mesh-based approaches can be difficult to generate or maintain. Khronos states that standardizing splat storage inside glTF allows these datasets to coexist with meshes, terrain, imagery, and animation data within existing spatial pipelines, including Earth-referenced coordinate systems.

Development of the extension followed discussions initiated by the Metaverse Standards Forum, which identified risks of fragmentation as Gaussian splatting techniques matured across different platforms. The Khronos 3D Formats Working Group responded by defining a mesh-primitive-based representation that allows renderers to interpret data as Gaussian splats rather than triangles, with fallback behavior for systems that do not support splatting.

Readers can find more information on the extension and provide feedback via the Khronos Group website.