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Skia VS Cairo

Compare Skia VS Cairo and see what are their differences

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Skia logo Skia

Skia is an easy-to-use and user-friendly 2D Graphics Library that comes with many prominent APIs for usage in software and hardware platforms.

Cairo logo Cairo

Cairo is an open-source 2D graphics library released under the GNU Lesser General Public License with support for several output devices.
  • Skia Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-04
  • Cairo Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-26

Skia features and specs

  • Open Source
    Skia is an open-source graphics library, which means it's free to use and has contributions from a large community that ensures a wider range of support and continual improvement.
  • Cross-Platform
    Skia supports multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, which makes it versatile for developing applications that are intended to run on different operating systems.
  • High Performance
    Designed for high performance, Skia can support both CPU and GPU-accelerated rendering, making it suitable for applications that require efficient graphics processing.
  • Integration
    Skia can be easily integrated with various frameworks and technologies, such as Flutter, making it a flexible solution for developers working on different projects.
  • Rich Feature Set
    Skia provides a wide range of features, including vector graphics, text rendering, and complex shapes, which offer developers great flexibility in design and functionality.

Possible disadvantages of Skia

  • Complexity
    Due to its comprehensive feature set and cross-platform capabilities, Skia can be complex to learn and use effectively, especially for developers who are new to graphics programming.
  • Limited Documentation
    While Skia is supported by an active community, some users might find its official documentation lacking in depth and detail, making it difficult to fully understand and leverage its capabilities without additional research.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    The complexity and breadth of Skia's features can result in a steep learning curve for new users, which can be a barrier to quick adoption and productivity.
  • Lack of Direct Support
    As an open-source project, Skia does not offer official customer support, so users must rely on community forums and third-party resources for troubleshooting and assistance.
  • Integration Overhead
    While Skia is versatile in its integration capabilities, incorporating it into a project may require significant effort or additional tools, especially if the project isn't already using compatible frameworks.

Cairo features and specs

  • Vector Graphics
    Cairo excels at producing high-quality vector graphics, which are resolution-independent and scalable. This is ideal for modern applications that require precision and flexibility in graphical rendering.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Cairo provides a consistent API across multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, and Linux, facilitating easier cross-platform development.
  • Multiple Backends
    Cairo supports various backends like X Window System, Quartz, Win32, and OpenGL. This allows developers to render graphics in different environments with relative ease.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source library, Cairo is free to use and can be easily modified. This can lead to cost savings and offers flexibility for projects with specific needs.

Possible disadvantages of Cairo

  • Performance Limitations
    Cairo can be slower when handling complex or intensive graphical tasks compared to some other graphics libraries, which might affect performance in demanding applications.
  • Complexity for Beginners
    The learning curve for Cairo can be steep for developers who are new to graphics programming, as understanding its API and capabilities fully requires some experience.
  • Limited 3D Support
    Cairo primarily focuses on 2D graphics, which may not be suitable for applications or projects that require robust 3D graphics support.
  • Documentation
    While Cairo does have documentation, it can be insufficient or out-of-date in areas, making it challenging for developers to find the information they need quickly.

Skia videos

+ Add

SkiA Ski Trainer Review

Cairo videos

+ Add

The Other Side of Cairo: Exploring Modern Egypt Travel Vlog

More videos:

  • Review - Undercover Food Tour in Cairo Backstreets!! Egyptian Street Food for CHEAP!!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Skia and Cairo)

Skia

Cairo

Development
67 67%
Development
33% 33
Photos & Graphics
59 59%
Photos & Graphics
41% 41
Javascript UI Libraries
64 64%
Javascript UI Libraries
36% 36
Tool
46 46%
Tool
54% 54

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Skia seems to be a lot more popular than Cairo. While we know about 23 links to Skia, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Cairo. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Skia mentions (23)

  • Skia Canvas: Browser-Less Implementation of the HTML Canvas Drawing API for Node
    > Firefox and Chrome have at various points in time used Skia as a backend for their own implementations of the Canvas API, too. Skia is the graphics engine used by Chrome and Android to render everything: https://skia.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Web Browser Engineering
    Yes [4]. > [1] The library is used as of 2023 in Google Chrome, ChromeOS, ChromiumOS, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Android, Firefox OS, Flutter,[5] Avalonia (from Alpha 4), LibreOffice (from version 7.0) and RAD Studio[6](since version 12.0). > [2] Changes to the Skia repository will be rolled into Chromium by the AutoRoll bot several times per day. > [3] It serves as the graphics engine for Google Chrome... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Cairo – Open-Source 2D Graphics Layer/API with Fonts and Many Back-Ends
    Didn't know about Skia previously! So, let's provide some links: Overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skia_Graphics_Engine Homepage: https://skia.org/ Source: https://skia.googlesource.com/skia/ https://github.com/google/skia where the following github projects which involve drawing are mentioned: https://github.com/bkaradzic/bgfx https://github.com/wjakob/nanogui we find the following interesting quote:... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Lottie under the hood
    Actually, that's not entirely accurate. The lottie-web Library itself doesn't support rendering to WebGL. However, there is a package called canvaskit-wasm that wraps Skia (a graphics engine) with WebAssembly (wasm). This package includes a module called skottie which supports rendering animations into a WebGL surface. However, there is a drawback with this approach: using wasm requires loading a relatively large... - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Widely-used graphics library
    Skia is pretty great if you can get it running. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

Cairo mentions (2)

  • More Haskell Diagrams: Images
    I would like to create images from Haskell diagrams with embedded images. At the same time, I want to use diagrams' cairo backend (diagrams-cairo) instead of the svg backend. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • The Quite OK Audio Format for Fast, Lossy Compression
    I looked at the PDF, and can confidently say I could typeset that in a word processor, using a stylesheet to sustain it. That's not what they did, apparently. The document properties call out https://cairographics.org. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Skia and Cairo, you can also consider the following products

Anti-Grain Geometry (AGG) - Anti-Grain Geometry (AGG) is an open-source 2D graphics library that provides you with tools to create multiple shapes and also comes with detailed documentation for explaining all the important concepts.

PlotDevice - PlotDevice is a graphics language for tinkerers, designers, developers and is written in Python.

Aspose.Drawing for .NET - Cross-platform complete 2D graphic library with System.Drawing API.

SkiaSharp - SkiaSharp is a simple yet robust, cross-platform 2D graphics API designed from scratch for .NET platforms based on Google’s Skia Graphics Library.

Bgfx - Bgfx is an open-source, high-performance, and cross-platform graphics API agnostic style rendering library that gives you the tools to create high-profile video games without limitations.

Three.js - A JavaScript 3D library which makes WebGL simpler.

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