Tokyo, Japan (Oct. 24th, 2024) – The VRM Consortium, Inc., the creator and advocate of the VRM 3D avatar file format, which is based on the glTF™ 2.0 open standard, has announced a collaboration with The Khronos Group, the developer of glTF, to advance the international standardization of VRM. Both parties will work together to develop the VRM and glTF formats as global open standards supporting interoperable 3D avatars.
VRM, proposed by Shinnosuke Iwaki, the Technical Committee Chair of VRM Consortium, is a platform-independent 3D avatar standard designed for interoperability in the metaverse era. First released in Japan in 2018, VRM has supported diverse applications and services, including the metaverse communication service “VirtualCast,” 3D character creation software “VRoid Studio,” and the metaverse platform “cluster.” It has already become the de facto industry standard for avatar integration across platforms within Japan.
In January of this year, the VRM Consortium and The Khronos Group entered into a liaison agreement to further the adoption of VRM. Since then, the two parties have been actively sharing information related to glTF and VRM. Now, both parties are moving forward to consolidate and propose VRM functionality as official Khronos glTF extensions.
glTF extensibility provides a powerful mechanism to extend the core glTF format, with extensions ratified by Khronos often being widely adopted and included in future versions of the glTF core specification. Successful ratification of VRM extensions by Khronos would therefore elevate recognition of VRM both in Japan and the metaverse industry globally, encouraging broader service and platform support for VRM avatars.
Ratification by Khronos would also mark a significant milestone on the path to international standardization for VRM. glTF 2.0 is an ISO/IEC standard (ISO/IEC 12113:2022); VRM’s inclusion as Khronos glTF Ratified Extensions will open the door for VRM to gain international recognition as an ISO/IEC standard. Adoption by Khronos, and ultimately ISO/IEC, will ensure the long-term continuity and stability of VRM, enabling users, creators, and developers to use it with confidence.
Through the international standardization of VRM functionality in glTF, the VRM Consortium and Khronos are committed to encouraging metaverse interoperability and creating an environment that fosters greater progress for the global metaverse industry. Learn more at VRM-consortium.org and khronos.org.
About VRM
VRM is a platform-independent 3D avatar file format originating from Japan, designed to enable interoperability in the metaverse era. In addition to traditional 3D model data such as textures and bones, VRM can handle information necessary for first-person avatar control, such as gaze settings. It aims to standardize varying scales and coordinate systems across different environments, allowing 3D avatars to be used seamlessly on any platform. Taking into account the nature of avatars and how people use them to bring out their personalities, avatar-specific licenses can be embedded into the VRM file, such as whether others can use the avatar or whether it can be used in violent representations. Currently, version 1.0 of VRM is available.
About the VRM Consortium
General incorporated association aimed at the formulation and promotion of the 3D avatar file format VRM.
Name: VRM Consortium, Inc.
Established April 24, 2019
Location: 4-12-15 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Subject matter
- Formulation of VRM, a unified standard for 3D avatar models
- Collection and provision of information related to VRM
- Promotion and advertising of VRM
- Proposal and development of legal protection for 3D models created with VRM
- Communication and cooperation with internal and external organizations related to VRM
- Activities necessary to achieve the association’s objectives beyond those listed in the preceding items
Board of Directors
Representative Director Yohei Ishii (VirtualCast Inc.)
Director Shinnosuke Iwaki (VirtualCast Inc.)
Director Hiroki Omae (Game Engineer)
Director Shun Kubota (Mogura Inc.)
Director Norio Shimizu (pixiv Inc.)
Director Yoshitaka Soejima (NTT QONOQ, INC.)
Director Naomasa Nakagawa (Lawyer HIBIYA PARK LAW OFFICES)
Director Yukihiro Matsumoto (MOE Group Holdings Ltd.)
Supervisor Hajime Kurimoto (Administrative scrivener, Certified Public Tax Accountant)
Supervisor Yutaka Sato (Yamagata University, Intellectual property right)
Official Website: https://vrm-consortium.org/
Membership Application and Inquiries: VRM Consortium Secretariat (vrmc-pr@vrm-consortium.org )
VRM Consortium Contact:
VRM Consortium Secretariat | E-mail：vrmc-pr@vrm-consortium.
About Khronos
The Khronos Group is an open, non-profit, member-driven consortium of over 180 industry-leading companies creating advanced, royalty-free, interoperability standards for 3D graphics, metaverse, augmented and virtual reality, parallel programming, vision acceleration and machine learning. Khronos activities include glTF™, OpenXR™, Vulkan®, and WebGL™. Khronos members drive the development and evolution of Khronos specifications and are able to accelerate the delivery of cutting-edge platforms and applications through early access to specification drafts and conformance tests.
