cairo (graphics)
| Cairo | |
|---|---|
| Original authors | Keith Packard, Carl Worth |
| Developers | Carl Worth, Behdad Esfahbod |
| Initial release | Before 2003 |
| Stable release | 1.18.4 (March 8, 2025) [±]
|
| Written in | C |
| Type | Graphics library |
| License | GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 (only) or Mozilla Public License 1.1 |
| Website | www |
| Repository | gitlab |
Cairo (stylized as cairo) is an open-source graphics library that provides a vector graphics-based, device-independent API for two-dimensional drawing. Written in C, it supports output to multiple backends including X11, Quartz, Win32, SVG, PDF, and PostScript. Cairo uses hardware acceleration when available.
Cairo is used by GTK (versions 2.8 through 3.x), the Gecko layout engine in Mozilla Firefox, WebKit, Poppler, and Inkscape, among other projects. The library is dual-licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 and the Mozilla Public License 1.1.
The name derives from the project's original name "Xr," interpreted as the Greek letters chi and rho, which together sound like "Cairo."