If you use a Linux desktop, youโre interacting with a display server. This crucial piece of software is responsible for drawing everything you see on your screen โ from windows and menus to your mouse pointer. For decades, the Xorg (X11) display server was the standard. However, as computing needs have evolved, a modern alternative called Wayland has emerged and is increasingly becoming the new default.
This post will explain what Wayland is, how it works, and how it compares to Xorg.
What Is Wayland
Wayland is a modern display protocol that specifies how applications interact with a display server to render graphics and process user inputs, such as clicks or text. Introduced around 2008 as a lighter, more secure, and efficient alternative to the X Window System (X), which dominated Linux from 1984 to the mid-2010s, Wayland is optimized for modern graphics hardware and displays. While X remains in use for some legacy applications (often via XWayland), Wayland has become the default in many Linux distributions by 2025.
Unlike X, which relies on a separate display server like Xorg, Wayland integrates the display server and window manager into a single entity called a compositor. For example, GNOME uses its compositor, Mutter, while KDE Plasma uses KWin. These compositors communicate directly with graphics hardware, often using libraries like libwayland (or wlroots for smaller compositors like Sway), to write data into the framebuffer. This eliminates the need for a middleman, as in Xorg, resulting in improved performance and smoother rendering.
Features of Wayland
- A simpler, modern design that makes development, maintenance, and debugging easier
- Improved security by isolating applications and preventing them from accessing each otherโs input or display data
- Reduced system overhead, enabling lower latency, smoother graphics, and less screen tearing
- Built-in support for high-DPI displays, per-monitor scaling, and fractional scaling
- An integrated compositor that provides consistent visual effects and improved rendering performance
- Native support for touchscreens, gestures, styluses, and other modern input devices
- Better synchronization with the display (VSync), reducing flickering and visual artifacts
- Avoids legacy complexity, making it easier to support modern hardware and software requirements
How Wayland Works
Display servers give information to the kernel and graphics hardware so that they can rapidly pass things on to the display. They receive this information through applications that communicate with them using their respective protocols. An application designed to work with X, for example, cannot communicate with a Wayland server.
Wayland solves this through something called XWayland, which acts as a compatibility layer that allows X client-server interaction to be translated into something that Wayland can understand.
In Wayland, the server and compositor are one and the same. Every desktop environment that uses Wayland makes calls to a library that implements the Wayland protocol to draw effects, such as transparency, window blurring, transition animations, and drop shadows, that give windows a sense of dimension.
Wayland brings all of these functions closer to the kernel, and youโll often feel it by the smoothness that you experience in the graphical environment.
Instead of drawing through the use of a third-party software, Wayland compositor calls what is known as the Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) buffer in the kernel to draw things.
You may notice that in Wayland, the steps are much simpler and the process straightforward. This leads to greater performance in graphically intense situations and makes it easier for developers to make applications that run under this protocol.
How to Try Wayland
Many modern Linux distributions โ especially those using recent versions of GNOME or KDE Plasma โ now use Wayland as the default display server.
As of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat), Wayland is the default display server on most systems, particularly those with Intel or AMD graphics. If youโre using an NVIDIA GPU, the system will still default to Wayland. However, if itโs still not working, then follow this detailed guide and get Wayland to work on Nvidia graphics card.
To check whether youโre using Wayland or Xorg, open a terminal and run:
echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
If the output is Wayland, youโre already on Wayland. Youโre running Xorg if it says x11,
If youโre on Xorg, you can usually transition to Wayland from the login screen. Look for a gear icon or session menu (usually near the Sign In button), click it, and select either Ubuntu or Ubuntu on Wayland or GNOME Classic. Then log in as usual.
Note: If youโre running a live session (e.g., Ubuntu 24.04.1 from a USB drive), the option to switch between Xorg and Wayland may not be available.
In any other distro, if itโs using a current version of GNOME or KDE Plasma, it has the option to use Wayland.
Try Wayland in Fedora and Arch Linux
Fedora has fully adopted Wayland as the default display server for both GNOME and KDE Plasma desktop environments. If youโre using a recent version of Fedora, youโre likely already on Wayland. The process to check or switch between Wayland and X11 is similar to Ubuntu. Simply, log out, click the gear icon on the login screen, and choose the appropriate session.
On Arch Linux and for GNOME users, no additional setup is needed beyond installing the gnome and gnome-session packages, as the default display manager (GDM) supports Wayland out of the box.
sudo pacman -S gnome gnome-sessionKDE Plasma users should need to install the plasma and plasma-wworkspace-wayland packages to enable Wayland support.
sudo pacman -S plasma plasma-workspace-waylandIn both cases, you should also install the xorg-xwayland package to ensure compatibility with applications that still rely on X11.
sudo pacman -S xorg-xwaylandAfter installing the necessary packages, select the Wayland session from your display managerโs session menu on the login screen.
For enhanced support with Qt and GLFW applications, consider installing qt5-wayland, qt6-wayland, and glfw-wayland. Further, if you experience any issues running KDE on Wayland, you can open the KWin debug console and diagnose problems:
qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin org.kde.KWin.showDebugConsoleOnce everything setup, your system should be ready to run on Wayland, with the ability to launch legacy X11 applications.
Wayland vs. Xorg: Key Differences
Wayland and Xorg (also known as X11) differ fundamentally in both architecture and design philosophy. Xorg, being the older system, uses a client-server model where the X server handles input and output. It act as a middleman between applications and hardware. Over time, this model has become bloated due to numerous extensions and legacy support, leading to performance inefficiencies and security concerns โ such as applications being able to snoop on each otherโs inputs.
In contrast, Wayland is designed to be simpler and more modern. It eliminates the need for a separate display server by allowing clients (applications) to communicate directly with the compositor. The compositor handles both rendering and display, which brings in improved security and performance.
Another key difference is how each system manages graphical output and input. Xorg relies heavily on external window managers and compositors like Compiz or Mutter. Wayland, on the other hand, integrates the compositor directly, reducing latency and screen tearing.
Should You Use Wayland
Support for Wayland has grown steadily. Desktop environments like Cinnamon, XFCE and MATE have begun adding Wayland support, and many lightweight window managers now offer Wayland-compatible versions. Tools like Sway (for i3 users), dwl (based on dwm), and newer ones like Hyprland are designed specifically for Wayland and bring modern features such as smoother animations.
Still, Wayland isnโt perfect. Some familiar tools, like xkill, donโt work due to the different way Wayland handles windows. There are also occasional bugs or limitations based on your hardware and software setup. Older applications that havenโt been maintained in years may not function well without Xorg.
Wrapping Up
If your current setup is running smoothly, thereโs no urgent reason to switch โ just keep using what works. But if youโre experiencing issues like freezing, or choppy screen movement, it might be worth trying the other display server. Sometimes, one simply works better than the other, based on your hardware and drivers. If things arenโt running as expected, switching display systems could help resolve the problem.
