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At the core of every web browser today sits an engine: Blink powers Chrome, Edge, and Brave; WebKit powers Safari; Gecko powers Firefox. Those engines were built for 2D documents. Sneeze is a new engine, purpose-built for spatial computing. Organizations can embed it into existing browsers or use it to power standalone native metaverse browsers. Sneeze delivers capabilities the current web stack was never designed for: proximity-based service discovery, secure multi-origin 3D scene composition through the Scene Object Model (SOM), per-service WASM sandboxing for security isolation, and real-time co-presence for AI agents, AR glasses, and enterprise environments at scale.

Market forces are converging, driving the need to make the web a truly capable spatial platform. Major technology companies are racing to ship AR glasses. Enterprises are deploying digital twins in airports, hospitals, and factories to transform operations with real-time spatial data. AI agents and autonomous systems are being designed for deployment in physical spaces, where they must perceive, interact with, and contribute to a shared spatial environment in real time. All of these applications need a common, open mechanism to connect to spatial experiences and services across devices, operators, and platforms, while retaining the same ownership and control as their web infrastructure.
No standards-based spatial platform exists today. Without one, every proprietary platform risks becoming a stack that can be discontinued at any time, stranding the organizations that built on it. Sneeze solves this by giving the metaverse the same open foundation as the web: a community-developed engine, based entirely around open standards, that any organization can build on reliably, with no single company able to discontinue or control it.

“Enabling users to seamlessly connect with spatial services, AI, and other users as they journey through the real world is a compelling definition of the metaverse. The web is the only platform that has the reach and openness to make this vision real,” said Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group and of the Metaverse Standards Forum. “Building the spatial web will need a constellation of standards from dozens of standards organizations. Enabling and fostering cooperative standardization is the reason the Forum exists, and building Sneeze under the OMBI is a perfect vehicle to catalyze, prototype, and deliver metaverse interoperability.”

How It Works

Sneeze enables self-hosted spatial content that works the way the web does today. Organizations host their own spatial fabrics, the metaverse equivalent of websites, on their own infrastructure. Sneeze handles multi-origin scene composition, rendering, networking, and security natively across mobile, desktop, VR, and AR devices without proprietary dependencies.

The engine can discover and load spatial content based on physical proximity. As someone moves through an airport, hospital, or factory, relevant content appears automatically without having to download multiple applications for each location.

Sneeze also makes shared immersive spaces seamless. Services from multiple organizations contribute to a single continuous scene through the Scene Object Model (SOM) while maintaining strict security boundaries through per-service WASM sandboxing. Each operator writes to its own branch of the scene graph, ensuring that no service can unexpectedly access another’s data or inject content into another’s space. Participants across AR glasses, VR headsets, phones, and desktops share the same spatial experience simultaneously with built-in presence, all without downloads or installations. To dive deeper into the OMBI architecture, go to omb.wiki.

The First Browser using Sneeze Is Coming

RP1 is the lead architect and maintainer of Sneeze, having developed the engine through OMBI in coordination with the Metaverse Standards Forum. RP1 is now building the world’s first native metaverse browser powered by Sneeze and will share more details at AWE 2026 and in the weeks following.

“We built the first metaverse browser as a working prototype on the current web stack and hit its limits firsthand,” said Sean Mann, Co-Founder and CEO of RP1 and board member of the Metaverse Standards Forum. “Web browsers were not designed for proximity-based content, for dozens of independent operators compositing in one scene, or for the spatial infrastructure that AR glasses and AI will demand. Developing Sneeze through OMBI and the Forum means it belongs to the entire industry from day one. Sneeze is to spatial computing what Blink is to the modern web, and the first browser built on it will prove the standard holds up in a real product.”

Built on Proven Open Standards

Sneeze builds on established open standards from multiple standards organizations, including existing internet standards (HTTPS, TCP/IP, DNS, etc.), the Khronos Group (ANARI, OpenXR, SPIR-V, glTF), the W3C (WebAssembly, Decentralized Identifiers), and many more. What is new is the spatial composition layer: the SOM, the evolving infrastructure for hosting and accessing real-time geolocated services, and the Sneeze engine itself, which makes multi-origin spatial scenes secure and performant.

Architecture and API documentation is available at omb.wiki/sneeze. Source code is live on the Metaverse Standards Forum GitHub. Universities, enterprises, hardware manufacturers, and individual developers are already contributing.

“The Open AR Cloud Association warmly welcomes this ambitious and exciting initiative, and its pursuit of a long-held dream: an open spatial web browser built on open standards and protocols. For this industry to finally realize its potential and benefit everyone, it must follow the playbook of the open web platform and resist the walled-garden XR ecosystems that proprietary platform builders have tried, in vain, to establish. AR exists within physical reality, which, at its very core, is a shared experience; dividing the same physical space between separate platforms that don’t work seamlessly together is meaningless. At a time when trust in big-tech platforms sits at a historic low, we believe businesses of every size, developers, creators, entrepreneurs, customers, and citizens alike are ready for the future of open spatial computing,” Jan-Erik Vinje and Ali Hantal, co-presidents, Open AR Cloud.

Academia joins the effort: the Open Metaverse Academia Alliance

Alongside Sneeze, the University of Rochester launched the Open Metaverse Academic Alliance (OMAA), bringing universities and research institutions into the open standards work underway through OMBI. Member institutions conduct foundational research on the metaverse browser engine, contribute to the open-source Sneeze project, and prepare students and researchers for careers in spatial computing. The alliance also partners with enterprise organizations to facilitate research across industries, and encourages participation from academic institutions worldwide.

“The open web was built in universities, and the metaverse should be too. The Open Metaverse Academic Alliance was created to bring universities and enterprise partners together to advance the open standards behind Sneeze and the Open Metaverse Browser Initiative, and to train the engineers who will build on them,” said Barry Silverstein, Director of the Center for eXtended Reality at the University of Rochester. “We invite academic and industry partners worldwide to join us in ensuring spatial computing is shaped by open research and the next generation of talent, with interoperability as a core foundation.”

To learn more or get involved in OMAA, visit https://www.rochester.edu/university-research/initiatives/extended-reality-research-and-application-extrra/open-metaverse-academic-alliance-omaa/

Get Involved

Enterprises can deploy spatial services without giving up the data ownership, revenue control, and platform freedom they have on the web today. Hardware and XR device manufacturers can ensure their devices reach every spatial service. Platform vendors can help shape the standards their products will run on. Standards organizations can channel real-world implementation requirements and feedback into their work. Developers and researchers can build a living testbed where specifications become working systems.

The engine is live, and the source code is open. Join the effort at metaverse-standards.org.

• Source code: https://github.com/MetaverseStandards/Sneeze
• The case for a metaverse browser: https://omb.wiki/standards
• Architecture documentation: https://omb.wiki/sneeze
• OMBI initiative: metaverse-standards.org/open-metaverse-browser-initative

Meet the Team at AWE 2026

The OMBI team will be at AWE 2026 (June 15–18, Long Beach, CA), presenting two sessions:

• From Web Browser to Metaverse Browser — fireside chat on Sneeze with Sean Mann (Co-Founder and CEO, RP1) and Neil Trevett (President, Metaverse Standards Forum and Khronos Group) on June 16 at 4:30 p.m., Room 101A.
• OMBI Architecture & Roadmap — open roundtable discussion on June 17 at 1:40 p.m, Room 103B, for anyone interested in getting involved.

Visit Khronos and the Metaverse Standards Forum at Booth #1041, and visit RP1 at Booth #928.

About the Metaverse Standards Forum

The Metaverse Standards Forum is a non-profit consortium dedicated to fostering metaverse interoperability. Open to all organizations of any size, including standards organizations, companies, and universities, the Forum is committed to promoting open standards, collaboration, and best practices to pave the way for an open, inclusive, and accessible metaverse. Metaverse Standards Forum members engage in building consensus on interoperability requirements, prototyping, plugfests, and open-source tool development. Learn more at metaverse-standards.org, and follow the Metaverse Standards Forum on LinkedIn.

About the Open Metaverse Browser Initiative

The Open Metaverse Browser Initiative (OMBI), created by the Metaverse Standards Forum in collaboration with RP1, brings standards organizations, technology companies, developers, and researchers together to build the spatial equivalent of the web browser: open, interoperable, and owned by no single company. RP1 is the lead architect and maintainer. Sneeze, the first open metaverse browser engine, is developed through OMBI and available on the Forum’s GitHub repository under the Apache 2.0 license. Learn more at omb.wiki.

Press Kit: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mZ9R83IToEjv2zle0kML7Fl0axqjApcP

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Re-imagining the Metaverse as a “Web of Worlds”

While the current metaverse landscape is often fragmented into isolated “walled gardens” or closed platforms, the WoW vision reimagines it as a cohesive network of linked, addressable 3D worlds. Much like today’s websites form a unified digital ecosystem, these spatial experiences function as web endpoints that enable seamless navigation and traversal between virtual environments.

By providing a single URI for every discrete virtual world, users can move through the metaverse with the same ease they browse the 2D web. This approach leverages the power of linked spatial experiences, where complete or partial worlds can be referenced, bookmarked, and shared across platforms.

Built on Open Web Platform (OWP) Values

The WoW framework extends the core values of the Open Web Platform—universality, interoperability, decentralization, and accessibility—into 3D immersive environments. Our goal is to ensure the metaverse remains:

• Universal: Accessible through any standard browser on any device (desktop, mobile, or XR) without requiring proprietary software installs.
• Decentralized: Free from a single point of control or platform lock-in, prioritizing user-owned data and self-sovereign identity.
• Interoperable: Built on a foundation of open, royalty-free standards developed by consensus.

A Robust Technical Stack and API Architecture

To reduce complexity and encourage adoption, WoW leverages a harmonized “glue layer” of existing standards. The architecture is built on three core pillars:

1. Open Spatial World API: Treats virtual worlds as persistent API and HTTP endpoints, allowing users to join, view, and preview worlds using a single URI.
2. Open User Manifest API (The “Digital YOU”): Powers a portable, user-controlled identity layer. Utilizing JSON-LD, Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), and Verifiable Credentials, users can carry their avatars, preferences, and assets across different virtual worlds.
3. Open Spatial Asset API: Facilitates modular, reusable 3D components by leveraging existing standards like glTF, X3D, and USD, which are already registered with IANA.

Privacy and User Ownership

Central to the WoW architecture is a “privacy-by-default” approach. By using a DID-enabled digital wallet to manage the User Manifest, individuals maintain full control over their data. The framework supports selective disclosure, ensuring only the data strictly required for a specific experience is shared, often with explicit consent prompts for the user.

Human-AI Collaboration

The WoW framework is designed for the future of human-AI symmetry. In this ecosystem, AI agents operate alongside humans as collaborative partners, following the same standards and API methods. These agents can perform “spatial computing” functions—such as computing bounding volumes or detecting collisions—to assist humans in complex virtual tasks.

Scalable Use Cases for Every Industry

The WoW vision provides a concrete roadmap for diverse applications, including:

• Industrial Digital Twins: Standardized 3D data exchange for engineering and manufacturing, aligning with initiatives like Catena-X.
• Education: Immersive 3D Web Field Trips that allow educators to transport students to virtual locations for remote learning.
• Collaboration & Social: Seamless virtual meetings and cross-platform social experiences where avatars and assets remain consistent.
• Gaming: Interoperable entertainment experiences with portable assets and “metaverse bookmarks”.

The release of this whitepaper marks a significant step toward an open and interconnected 3D Web. We look forward to working with MSF members and SDOs to develop the standards and the requirements illustrated in this document and specified in the WoW API.

Whitepaper summary and link to full pdf: https://webofworlds.github.io/initial_MSF_Whitepaper

Repo: https://github.com/WebOfWorlds/WoWAPI

New Home Page with own domain
webofworlds.org

Next steps

• Q2 implementation previews (per whitepaper): simpleWorlds, threedy.io
• Strategic alignments: OMBI workshop at SIGGRAPH LA; OpenARCloud and OMA3 ongoing via Spatial Computing WG, MSF

Web of Worlds is on track to become the second MSF Initiative after OMBI, creating two complementary initiatives advancing an open, decentralized metaverse. Target launch: SIGGRAPH.

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As AI-enabled AR glasses and VR headsets go mainstream, there is an urgent need to evolve today’s web infrastructure to deliver spatial services to these next-generation devices. The race is on to establish the open standards required to make this transition possible at scale. Just as the early web depended on foundational standards to succeed, the spatial internet faces the same challenge. The opportunity lies in building on existing web standards while developing essential new protocols and APIs.

The Metaverse Standards Forum and RP1 are addressing this challenge by launching the Open Metaverse Browser Initiative, an open-source effort to build the foundation for how the world will access spatial services.

The Evolution of the Web

Just as the web browser unlocked the World Wide Web by providing universal access to information on 2D devices, the metaverse browser will unlock proximity-based services across AR and virtual environments without installing separate apps for each service.

The metaverse is the evolution of the World Wide Web, bringing spatial computing to the same open, standards-based foundation that made the web successful.

What This Looks Like

Walk into an airport wearing smart glasses. Instantly, you’ll see a route to your gate overlaid on the floor in front of you. Your flight status floats above your departure gate. Security wait times appear as you approach checkpoints. When you arrive at your gate, the airline’s check-in interface appears automatically. You select your seat from a 3D visualization of the plane. Meanwhile, a colleague in another city joins you virtually, their avatar standing beside you for a quick meeting before your flight.

None of this will require installing apps. Each service will activate automatically based on your location. The airport provides navigation, the airline provides check-in, your company provides communication tools. All working together seamlessly in your view, then disappearing as you move to new locations.

This is how the metaverse works: multiple services from different providers appearing automatically based on where you are and what you need.

The AOL Moment

The XR industry today resembles the early 1990s internet, fragmented into incompatible proprietary platforms. We’re in another “AOL moment.” Just as walled gardens gave way to the open web, today’s proprietary XR platforms will evolve into an open metaverse built on universal standards.

A standards-based metaverse browser connects any device to any spatial service, giving organizations the ability to own and operate their spatial presence just like hosting a website today. Open standards create full data ownership, revenue control, and freedom to build without dependence on any platform or gatekeeper.

How do we get the standards we need before fragmentation becomes locked in?

RP1 has developed an operational prototype metaverse browser that connects to immersive 3D content and third-party services across any device, on demand, in real time. RP1 is contributing this prototype to seed an open-source project under the stewardship of the Metaverse Standards Forum, a collaborative non-profit bringing together more than 2,500 member companies and leading standards organizations.

The initiative will be hosted on GitHub under a permissive open-source license, enabling broad industry contributions and providing a functional testbed for exercising and validating interoperability standards.

“Open standards are a powerful foundation for transformative platforms, and RP1 has given us an extraordinary head start to create not just a browser implementation, but a testbed for interoperability collaboration,” said Neil Trevett, president of the Metaverse Standards Forum. “We invite the standards community to join the initiative and leverage this mutual opportunity to drive the evolution and widespread adoption of their standards.”

“The metaverse and XR industry is fragmented and proprietary. A standards-based metaverse browser is the way forward and the Metaverse Standards Forum was custom built to foster this kind of industry-wide cooperation,” said Sean Mann, co-founder and CEO of RP1. “Industry and academic interest in this project has been overwhelming, and we welcome all interested parties to get involved.”

Join Us

This is a call to the entire standards community: standards development organizations with expertise in web, networking, 3D, spatial, and XR technologies; implementers ready to build, test, and validate emerging specifications; enterprises planning spatial infrastructure who want a seat at the table; and developers and researchers passionate about spatial technologies.

Early participants will shape the project’s direction, structure, and deliverables. The initiative will use proven, transparent open-source governance welcoming contributions from all. Organizations are encouraged to join the Metaverse Standards Forum for a voice in the project and broader Working Group activities.

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Working Group Chairs

Metaverse Standards Form working groups address the interoperability challenges and opportunities that are vital to driving the open metaverse.  These working groups are led by our volunteer chairs who give their time to help coordinate and drive discussions with members of the group.

Prem Anand Balachandran

Working Group Chair

Bala Aatral Solutions Pvt Ltd

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Lauri Ilola

Working Group Chair

Nokia

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Ken Jakubzak

Working Group Chair

Meta

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Skip Kimpel

Working Group Chair

Magicgate

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Aditya Mani

Working Group Chair

YOLOgram

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Amanda Morgan

Working Group Chair

Bentley Systems

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Nick Porcino

Working Group Chair

Pixar Animations Studio

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Ralf Schaefer

Working Group Chair

InterDigital

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Katherine Schildmeyer

Working Group Chair

IEEE SA

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Joe D Williams

Working Group Chair

Web 3D

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