The Khronos Group created the OpenXR standard for portable virtual-reality and augmented-reality applications.
OpenXR is an open, royalty-free standard that provides interfaces between applications and XR runtimes. Its purpose is to reduce the need for developers to create separate integrations for every headset, operating system, or platform. The Khronos Group, an industry consortium known for standards such as OpenGL and Vulkan, manages the specification.
The first version of the OpenXR specification was released in 2019. Major technology companies and hardware makers participated in its development, including Microsoft, Valve, Oculus, Qualcomm, and others. The standard covers areas such as session management, device interaction, tracking, and rendering.
OpenXR does not itself manufacture a headset or act as an app store. It is an application programming interface standard. That distinction separates it from Unity, SteamVR, and platform-specific software, which can use or implement OpenXR but are not the organization that created the standard.