The Greenfield In-Browser Wayland Compositor Is Fast Enough For Gaming

While there are a lot of Wayland compositors out there that aren't too different from each other in terms of features, one of the more unique ones is Greenfield. The Greenfield Wayland compositor has been out there for a few years now as an in-browser HTML5-based solution that is continuing to prove itself capable and even fast enough for handling Linux gaming.

Greenfield works as a Wayland compositor for the web for running Linux applications remotely or leveraging WebAssembly (WASM) for running applications within the web browser. Greenfield developer Erik De Rijcke presented at FOSDEM 2024 last weekend on the latest improvements to Greenfield and how it can be used as a remote protocol with fast enough performance for even gaming.

Greenfield though currently doesn't have sound working within the web browser, which limits the actual potential for remote gaming. Moving forward though that may be addressed as well as implementing more Wayland protocols, provide a unified remote/browser/local file-system support, and even exploring WebAssembly ports of Mesa to WebGL and the Linux kernel.

Yes, a Linux kernel port to WASM is actually being eyed.

Those wanting to learn more about the innovative Greenfield in-browser Wayland compositor can do so via the FOSDEM 2024 presentation and by the project site at Greenfield.app.