Foveated rendering

Your eyes only see fine detail in a small central area called the fovea; vision becomes much less sharp toward the edges. Foveated rendering takes advantage of this by rendering a high-detail region where it matters and lowering detail elsewhere. The saved processing power can go toward higher resolution, better effects or steadier frame rates.

Fixed foveated rendering (FFR)

Fixed foveated rendering assumes you are looking roughly straight ahead. The center of each lens is rendered at full detail and the outer areas at reduced detail. It needs no extra hardware and is widely used on standalone headsets such as the Meta Quest line. Because the lens edges are already less sharp, the loss is often hard to notice, though aggressive settings can show blocky edges if you glance sideways.

Eye-tracked foveated rendering (ETFR)

Also called dynamic foveated rendering, this uses eye tracking to move the high-detail region to wherever you look. Savings can be larger and less noticeable than with FFR, but it requires fast, accurate tracking. The PlayStation VR2 uses it in many games, and the Apple Vision Pro uses it across the system.

The OpenXR 1.1 standard includes foveated rendering in its core specification, making it easier for developers to support across headsets.