Download GLFW – OpenGL and Vulkan Windowing and Input Library

GLFW is a free, open-source multi-platform library for OpenGL, OpenGL ES, and Vulkan development on Windows, Linux, and macOS. It provides a simple API for creating windows and OpenGL/Vulkan contexts, handling keyboard, mouse, and joystick input, and managing multiple monitors — all the essential building blocks for real-time 3D graphics applications.

GLFW is designed to be lightweight and minimal. It does exactly what it needs to do to get a graphics context running and get input from the user, without adding unnecessary dependencies or overhead. This makes it the preferred choice for graphics tutorials, OpenGL learning projects, game engines, and any C/C++ application that needs a portable windowing and input solution.

Used in countless game engines, rendering frameworks, and educational resources worldwide, GLFW is the de facto standard for bootstrapping OpenGL and Vulkan applications in C and C++.

Key Features

• Creates windows with OpenGL, OpenGL ES, or Vulkan contexts on Windows, Linux, and macOS
• Handles keyboard, mouse, scroll wheel, and joystick/gamepad input with a clean callback API
• Multi-monitor support with query functions for monitor resolution, DPI, and video modes
• Supports multiple windows and OpenGL contexts within the same application
• Clipboard access, cursor customization, and window icon setting
• Vulkan support including surface creation and extension enumeration
• Thread-safe design suitable for multi-threaded rendering applications

How to Install

1. Click the download button below to get the GLFW prebuilt binaries or source archive.
2. For prebuilt binaries, download the package matching your compiler (MSVC, MinGW, etc.) and link against glfw3.lib or libglfw3.a.
3. To build from source, use CMake: cmake -S . -B build && cmake --build build
4. Include the GLFW headers in your project and link the library in your build system.
5. Initialize GLFW with glfwInit(), create a window with glfwCreateWindow(), and start your render loop.