VkAttachmentLoadOp(3)

# VkAttachmentLoadOp(3) Manual Page

## Name

VkAttachmentLoadOp - Specify how contents of an attachment are treated at the beginning of the subpass where it is first used

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## C Specification

Load operations that can be used for a render pass are:

    // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
    typedef enum VkAttachmentLoadOp {
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_LOAD = 0,
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_CLEAR = 1,
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_DONT_CARE = 2,
      // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_4
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_NONE = 1000400000,
      // Provided by VK_EXT_load_store_op_none
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_NONE_EXT = VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_NONE,
      // Provided by VK_KHR_load_store_op_none
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_NONE_KHR = VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_NONE,
    } VkAttachmentLoadOp;

## Description

- `VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_LOAD` specifies that the previous contents of the image within the render area will be preserved as the initial values. For attachments with a depth/stencil format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_READ_BIT`. For attachments with a color format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_READ_BIT`.

- `VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_CLEAR` specifies that the contents within the render area will be cleared to a uniform value, which is specified when a render pass instance is begun. For attachments with a depth/stencil format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT`. For attachments with a color format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT`.

- `VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_DONT_CARE` specifies that the previous contents within the area need not be preserved; the contents of the attachment will be undefined inside the render area. For attachments with a depth/stencil format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT`. For attachments with a color format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT`.

- `VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_NONE` specifies that the previous contents of the image will be undefined inside the render pass. No access type is used as the image is not accessed.

## See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, VkAttachmentDescription, VkAttachmentDescription2, VkRenderingAttachmentInfo

## Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

## Copyright

Copyright 2014-2025 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0