The industry-standard open API for cross-platform visual effects and video processing plugins.
OpenFX is a robust, cross-platform C-based API standard designed to bridge the gap between visual effects plugin developers and host applications. As of 2026, it remains the dominant standard for high-end post-production, enabling plugins to run across diverse hosts such as DaVinci Resolve, Foundry Nuke, and Magix Vegas Pro without rewriting the core image processing logic. The architecture is built on a 'Host-Plugin' model where the host manages memory and the timeline, while the plugin executes sophisticated spatial and temporal transformations. This decoupling is essential for modern AI-driven workflows, as it allows neural network-based filters (e.g., upscaling or rotoscoping) to be implemented once and deployed across the entire industry ecosystem. Technically, it supports high-bit-depth imagery (up to 32-bit float), multi-threading, and hardware acceleration wrappers for CUDA and Metal. Its 2026 market position is solidified by its ability to handle complex metadata and temporal frame access, making it the preferred choice for developers building next-generation generative video tools that require deep integration with professional editing timelines.
Enables plugins to request frames from the host at different time offsets relative to the current frame.
Verified feedback from the global deployment network.
Post queries, share implementation strategies, and help other users.
Handles images at different resolutions and aspect ratios simultaneously through a coordinate-invariant system.
Plugins and hosts negotiate which part of an image needs to be rendered to save processing power.
Provides 'Overlays' that allow plugins to draw custom handles and UI elements directly in the host's viewer.
The API handles the interpolation of keyframes, passing computed values to the plugin per frame.
Allows processing of images in smaller chunks to manage memory constraints for 8K+ resolutions.
Explicitly handles the state of alpha channels (premultiplied vs. straight) through the pipeline.
Running a heavy neural network inside DaVinci Resolve without crashing.
Registry Updated:2/7/2026
Maintaining identical color math between Nuke and Vegas Pro.
Calculating blur based on previous and next frame motion vectors.