If you go through the installed programs section of your Windows computer, you might find something named Vulkan Runtime Libraries. More specifically, it should be something like Vulkan Runtime Libraries X.X.X.X, where X.X.X.X represents the version number of the runtime library.
All of a sudden, a lot of people might see Vulkan Runtime Libraries on the installed apps section and wonder what is it? is it safe? should I delete Vulkan Runtime Libraries? etc. In this article, let’s see everything that you need to know about Vulkan Runtime Libraries.
So, let’s see what exactly is Vulkan Runtime Libraries.
What is Vulkan Runtime Libraries?
Vulkan Runtime Libraries is a graphic standard used by many programs and games. Earlier, OpenGL was used and it is now replaced with Vulkan Runtime Libraries which is actually the newest version of OpenGL.
Some of you might be aware of graphics standards like OpenGL, DirectX, etc. Vulkan Runtime Libraries is the successor to OpenGL. Vulkan Runtime Libraries is a cross-platform 3D graphics used in modern-day PC, consoles, mobile phones, and embedded platforms.
Vulkan Runtime Libraries provides high efficiency and compute API to use in modern GPUs. Long story short, it is a graphics library used by certain programs and games to get better 3D graphics performance.
You can not download and install Vulkan Runtime Libraries from anywhere. It is not supplied as a standalone installer that can be downloaded from the Internet. To find the source of origin, read the next part of the article.
Also see What is AdobeGC Invoker Utility? Is it Safe?
Where did Vulkan Runtime Libraries come from?
Now you might be wondering, I didn’t install Vulkan Runtime Libraries on my computer then how would this get installed automatically. The point here is that you can’t download and install Vulkan Runtime Libraries alone from anywhere on the Internet.
Vulkan Runtime Libraries is supplied inside the package of other games or programs. There might be some games that use Vulkan Runtime Libraries to facilitate better and efficient graphics performance. So, while you install the game or software, Vulkan Runtime Libraries get installed alongside.
Even if you don’t want to install the same, almost none of the game installers gives you the choice whether to install Vulkan Runtime Libraries or not.
It can also gets installed at times when you install or update the Nvidia Graphics Driver as well.
Is Vulkan Runtime Libraries Safe?
As it is supplied by the game or program that you installed on your computer, then chances are Vulkan Runtime Libraries is safe and secure. If you downloaded the original program/game from an authentic and legit source then it should be safe as well.
Sometimes, antivirus software like Windows Defender or others might throw a warning stating that Vulkan Runtime Libraries is a virus. But most of the time, it should be a false positive. Often time, these antivirus software reports non-harmful programs as harmful.
Should I Uninstall Vulkan Runtime Libraries?
Unless it is causing some serious problem, you shouldn’t be uninstalling it. As mentioned earlier, Vulkan Runtime Libraries come bundled with other software or games. The reason why the developers included Vulkan Runtime Libraries in the package is that it uses Vulkan Runtime Libraries for graphics-related purposes. Removing it might affect the way in which things work.
If it came with a game and you remove it, the next time you play the game, things might get choppy or the graphics performance might get affected. If you are facing choppy graphics or low FPS, then you can try disabling Windows Fullscreen Optimizations to fix the issue.
If you use Steam or any other service then even if you accidentally uninstalled Vulkan Runtime Libraries, you should be able to install it again. You may try these fixes if Steam fails to work.
I have Multiple Versions of Vulkan Runtime Libraries Installed
Sometimes, users might see multiple versions of Vulkan Runtime Libraries installed on their computers. This happens when a newer update is available and the older one is not uninstalled. If you have multiple games using Vulkan Runtime Libraries and if both of them are using different versions of Vulkan Runtime Libraries then you will see multiple versions of the same in the apps manager.
There is nothing that you need to worry about. And you don’t even have to uninstall the older version as they don’t take that too much space on the hard drive. Vulkan Runtime Libraries’ size comes at around 2MB and shouldn’t bother you most of the time.
In short, even if you have different versions of Vulkan Runtime Libraries installed on your computer, leave it as it is and do not uninstall it, as some other games/programs might be still using the older version.
You can learn more about the Cross Platform 3D Performance Vulkan from its official website.
Final Words
This is everything that you need to know about Vulkan Runtime Libraries on Windows. It comes bundled with other programs or games. The same gets installed on your computer when you install games/programs that use Vulkan Runtime Libraries. Vulkan Runtime Libraries is in no way harmful and at times, antivirus might show a false warning. Just ignore it and you are all good to go.
It doesn’t matter even if you have multiple versions of Vulkan Runtime Libraries installed on your computer. It is of no harm. So that part is covered as well.
