Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform

WARP can be used when no compatible hardware is available, in kernel mode applications or in a headless environment, or for remote rendering of Direct2D/DirectWrite for Remote Desktop Connection clients.

WARP is a full-featured Direct3D 10.1 renderer device with performance on par with current low-end graphics cards, such as Intel GMA 3000, when running on multi-core CPUs. To achieve this level of rendering performance, WARP employs advanced techniques such as just-in-time compilation to x86 machine code and support for advanced vector extensions such as SSE2 and SSE4.1.

WARP supports Direct3D 11 runtime and is compatible with feature levels 10_1, 10_0, 9_3, 9_2, and 9_1; in Direct3D 11.1 runtime, WARP additionally supports feature levels 11_0 and 11_1.

In Windows 8, WARP provides functionality for the "Microsoft Basic Render Driver" which replaces kernel-mode VGA driver. In Windows 8.1, WARP has been updated to support feature level 11_1 and tiled resources.

In Windows 10, WARP has been updated to support Direct3D 12 at feature level 12_1; under Direct3D 12, WARP also replaces the Reference rasterizer.

In Windows 11, WARP was updated to support feature level 12_2 (DirectX 12 Ultimate) with variable rate shading, sampler feedback, mesh shaders, and DirectX Raytracing. Microsoft releases recent versions of d3d10warp.dll as a downloadable NuGet package, which can be side-loaded by applications and can work with the redistributable Direct3D 12 runtime (Agility SDK).