Chrome developer Elliot Poger announced that Chrome for Mac will soon be using the Skia 2D graphics library and not Apple’s core graphics anymore.

According to Poger, the switch should happen in the Chromium channel either today or tomorrow and bring Chromium for Mac in line with the Windows and Linux versions, which already use Skia by default. Skia, which was developed by a company with the same name (and which was acquired by Google in 2005) is a C++ open source 2D graphics library that is used for drawing graphical elements such as text, geometries and images.

Previously, Google replaced Microsoft’s GDI with Skia primarily to support upcoming HTML5 features (such as SVG and Canvas) as well as UI improvements. Skia also gave Google more control over the features of the engine as it “can be modified to suit [Google's] needs.” Switching the Apple version, will also give Google much greater control to change Chromium/Chrome in the future, without having to wait for Apple.

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