WebGLRenderer: Deprecate WebGL 1 support.

[Mugen87]

Related issue: -

Description

This PR deprecates WebGL 1 supports in three.js. That means the renderer logs now a warning when a WebGL 1 rendering context is detected. That could happen when WebGL1Renderer is used, a custom WebGL 1 rendering context is passed to the renderer's constructor or WebGLRenderer is unable to create a WebGL 2 rendering context and falls back to WebGL 1.

The warning states that in ten releases (r163) WebGL 1 support will be removed. three.js will then require WebGL 2.

Hardware support for WebGL 2 is already very decent. However, I think we should announce the WebGL 1 removal and give users enough time to prepare/react since certain projects still rely on WebGL 1.

Removing WebGL 1 support will allow us to completely delete certain code paths in the renderer which will simplify the code and make it easier to support more WebGL 2 specific features.

[github-actions]

📦 Bundle size

Full ESM build, minified and gzipped.

Filesize dev	Filesize PR	Diff
635.5 kB (157.6 kB)	635.7 kB (157.6 kB)	+142 B

🌳 Bundle size after tree-shaking

Minimal build including a renderer, camera, empty scene, and dependencies.

Filesize dev	Filesize PR	Diff
426.2 kB (103.4 kB)	426.4 kB (103.4 kB)	+142 B

[LeviPesin]

The warning states that in ten releases (r163)

I thought it was 11 releases? I.e. if something was deprecated in e.g. r153, it stays there until r163 and is removed only in r164.

[Mugen87]

I think the text is okay as it is.

[mrdoob]

How about this?

THREE.WebGLRenderer: WebGL 1 support was deprecated in r153 and will be removed in r163.

[Mugen87]

Sounds good! Updated!

[Pinpickle]

@Mugen87 is there a recommended pathway for people who want to support WebGL for the forseeable future?

WebGL 2 support only landed in the last Safari version at the time of writing (15. 16 is the latest), less than 2 years ago. Caniuse reports 94.4% support.

How far away is r163? If a version is roughly every month, does that mean we have until early 2024 to hope our users get more modern devices?

[Mugen87]

How far away is r163?

February 2024. If you have to support older devices you have to stick to r162.

Supporting WebGL 1, WebGL 2 and WebGPU at the same is going to be more and more challenging. We have to make compromises by removing features so we can focus on more important, future-proof topics.