A rendering benchmark for web based augmented reality found the two candidate approaches split only at high polygon counts.
Rendering a 3D object in a browser is no longer remarkable. Rendering a heavy one, on a phone, inside an augmented reality view, is a different problem.
A 2023 study from Brawijaya University put two rendering approaches side by side in an HTML based AR application, built on the AR.js library, which brings augmented reality to the web without extra plugins.
The two candidates were WebGL running raw shaders, and the OpenGL Shading Language, GLSL. Both reach the same hardware on the device. What differs is how much work the application has to do to drive it.
The study tested them across polygon counts that step up by orders of magnitude, from a couple of thousand triangles to several million. That range is what makes the result useful, because the answer changes partway through.
Low poly and medium poly models rendered fine on both approaches. There was no practical reason to prefer one over the other at that scale, which covers a lot of everyday AR content: product markers, simple overlays, small animated figures.
High polygon models separated them. WebGL performance dropped significantly, while GLSL rendered the same objects at a level comparable to native library rendering. For heavy geometry, the choice stopped being a preference and became a requirement.
The authors recommend GLSL shaders for 3D objects on the web. The recommendation is narrow by design. It is about the rendering path, at the polygon counts they measured, not a claim about every web graphics task.
The useful habit is the one their method models: test at the scale you actually intend to ship. A model that renders perfectly at two thousand polygons tells you nothing about what happens at four million.
Hamzaturrazak et al. (2023). Performance Analysis of 3D Rendering Method on Web-Based Augmented Reality Application Using WebGL and OpenGL Shading Language. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Sustainable Information Engineering and Technology.
