The Evolution of Flutter Rendering Engine: From Skia to Impeller

Syed Abdul Basit
3 min readOct 27, 2023

Flutter, Google’s open-source UI software development toolkit, has witnessed a remarkable transformation in its rendering engine. In this article, we’ll delve into the transition from the Skia rendering engine to Impeller, highlighting the key distinctions and the advantages of this evolution. Join us on this journey to explore the changing face of Flutter’s rendering engine.

Skia vs. Impeller

Before the release of Flutter 3.10, Skia was the backbone of Flutter’s rendering engine. Skia, a powerful 2D graphics library, was instrumental in rendering vector graphics and was the go-to choice for cross-platform mobile app development. However, with Flutter 3.10, Skia has stepped aside, making room for Impeller.

Skia’s reputation precedes it. As an efficient and performance-driven 2D graphics library, it laid the foundation for Flutter’s graphics rendering. Its contributions to the Flutter framework cannot be overstated.

Impeller, introduced with Flutter 3.10, is poised to address the shortcomings and bottlenecks experienced with Skia. It focuses on enhancing performance and efficiency…

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