In computer software, Direct3D is a proprietary API designed by Microsoft Corporation that provides a standardized API for hardware 3D acceleration on the Windows platform. Direct3D is implemented, like OpenGL on the same platform, in the display driver. OpenGL is an open standard Application Programming Interface that provides a number of functions for the rendering of 2D and 3D graphics. An implementation is available on most modern operating systems. Following is a comparison of the two APIs, structured around various considerations mostly relevant to game development.