0.- What is a render Pipeline? #
Every frame you see in a Unity game, every sprite, light, and shadow, has to be turned into pixels on your screen. The render pipeline is the set of steps Unity follows to do that: take everything in the Scene, figure out how it should look, and draw it.
A simple analogy: if your game is a meal, the render pipeline is the kitchen. Different kitchens can cook the same recipe, but a food-truck kitchen and a five-star restaurant kitchen have different equipment, different speeds, and different results. Unity gives you a choice of “kitchens” for your project, and picking one is one of the first decisions you make when starting a new project, it affects what your game can look like and how it performs.
Why this matters for beginners: you don’t need to fully understand render pipelines to make your first game. But it’s worth knowing they exist, because the template you pick when you create a project quietly decides which one your project uses. And mixing up pipeline-specific settings later is a common source of “why does my project look wrong” confusion.
1.- The main render pipelines #
Unity currently ships with three options. As of 2026, Unity has clarified which one it recommends going forward, which is important for long-term projects and learning how to use the engine in the future:
1.1.- Built-in Render Pipeline #
Unity’s original, oldest render pipeline. It’s not built on Unity’s newer “Scriptable Render Pipeline” system, so it can’t share features with the other two.
WARNING
This render pipeline is being discontinued. It’s not recommended to use it in any new project. Avoid using it.
- Status: Unity has officially begun deprecating the Built-in Render Pipeline, starting in Unity 6.5. It still works and is supported for existing projects (guaranteed at least through the Unity 6.7 LTS release), but Unity now actively discourages using it for any new project.
- Best for: Maintaining an existing older project that already uses it. Not recommended for anything new.
- Beginner note: Some older tutorials, forum answers, and asset packs online still assume Built-in. So you’ll see it referenced a lot, even though it’s on its way out.
1.2.- Universal Render Pipeline #
Unity’s modern, general-purpose pipeline. It’s designed to work well across a huge range of platforms — PC, console, mobile, and everything in between — while staying lightweight and fast.
INFO
This is the recommended render pipeline for most cases. If you are a begginer, pick this one.
- Status: URP is Unity’s primary focus and the pipeline it recommends for new projects of essentially any genre, 2D or 3D. Unity has said it is actively investing further development effort into URP, including bringing over advanced lighting features that used to be exclusive to HDRP.
- Best for: Almost everything: 2D games, mobile games, stylized 3D, and most PC/console games. It has a dedicated 2D Renderer with 2D-specific lighting, which is exactly what this course’s projects fall into.
- Beginner note: If you’re not sure which pipeline to pick for a new project, URP is the safe, currently-recommended default.
High Definition Render Pipeline #
Unity’s pipeline built for high-end, realistic visuals, the kind of look you’d see in a AAA console or high-spec PC game, with advanced lighting, reflections, and post-processing.
- Status: HDRP is now in maintenance mode: Unity has said it isn’t planning new features for HDRP going forward (aside from expanding platform support, such as Nintendo Switch 2), though it will still receive stability and bug fixes.
- Best for: High-fidelity 3D games targeting powerful hardware (modern PCs, current-gen consoles) where visual realism is the priority.
- Beginner note: HDRP is demanding on hardware and has a steeper learning curve. It’s not a good starting point for a first project, and it isn’t relevant to the 2D games this course builds.
2.- Quick Comparision #
| Built-in (BIRP) | Universal (URP) | High Definition (HDRP) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current status | Deprecated (support continues through Unity 6.7 LTS) | Unity’s main focus for new development | Maintenance mode (stability fixes + platform support only) |
| Best fit | Existing older projects only | Most projects — 2D, mobile, stylized/realistic 3D, most platforms | High-end realistic 3D on powerful hardware |
| Performance | Fine, but not built for modern optimization work | Optimized for a wide range of devices, including mobile | Heaviest of the three; needs strong hardware |
| 2D support | Basic; no dedicated 2D lighting system | Dedicated 2D Renderer with 2D lighting built in | Not designed for 2D |
| Platform reach | Broad, but no longer being improved | Broadest — PC, console, mobile, XR | Narrower — targets powerful platforms |
| Recommended for new projects? | No | Yes | Only for specific high-fidelity 3D use cases |
| Learning curve for beginners | Simple, but teaches an aging workflow | Simple, and it’s what most current tutorials assume | Steeper, more settings to manage |
3.- Frequently Asked Questions #
“Do I need to write different code for different render pipelines?” For most stuff, no. Render pipelines mostly affect visual settings (materials, shaders, lighting), not the C# scripting patterns.
“Can I switch pipelines later?” Technically yes, but it usually means re-checking materials and visual settings across the whole project, which is tedious. It’s much easier to pick correctly at the very start than to switch midway through a project.
“How do I check which pipeline my project is using?” Go to Edit > Project Settings > Graphics and look at the Scriptable Render Pipeline Settings field. If it’s empty, the project is using Built-in. If it has a URP or HDRP asset assigned, that’s the active pipeline.
“Why did everything in my Scene suddenly turn bright pink/magenta?” This is Unity’s built-in error color for “this material’s shader doesn’t work with the current pipeline”. Most often seen right after switching a project to URP or HDRP without updating its materials. It looks alarming but it’s expected and fixable: Unity has a built-in converter (Edit > Rendering > Materials > Convert Built-in to URP, wording varies slightly by version) that upgrades most materials automatically.
“Will render pipeline choice affect my frame rate?” In small projects, no. But the bigger the project, the more demanding HDRP is. If you want performance, use URP.
“Is HDRP relevant to mobile games at all?” Generally no. HDRP targets powerful hardware (modern PCs and consoles) and is not designed with mobile performance in mind. If a project needs to run on phones, URP is the safer choice, since it’s built to scale down to mobile as well as up to higher-end platforms.
“What’s the difference between a ‘Renderer’ and a ‘Pipeline Asset’ in URP?” Both are Unity assets you’ll see referenced in URP projects. The Universal Render Pipeline Asset is the overall settings file (assigned in Project Settings > Graphics) that tells Unity “use URP, with these quality settings.” The Renderer (e.g. the “2D Renderer”) is a more specific asset that defines how rendering happens for a particular use case. it’s why URP’s 2D template comes with a 2D Renderer already selected, preconfigured for 2D lighting. Beginners generally won’t need to edit either of these.
“I think I accidentally started my project with the wrong template — do I have to start over?” Not necessarily, but for a beginner it’s usually easier than fixing it. Switching pipelines after the fact means installing the correct package and re-checking every material in the project (see the pink-material question above).
Extra resources #
- Unity — Render Pipelines strategy for 2026 (official announcement): https://unity.com/topics/render-pipelines-strategy-for-2026
- Unity Discussions — Render Pipelines strategy for 2026 (community thread): https://discussions.unity.com/t/render-pipelines-strategy-for-2026/1710004
- Unity Manual — Using the Built-In Render Pipeline (deprecation notice): https://docs.unity3d.com/6000.5/Documentation/Manual/built-in-render-pipeline.html
- Unity Manual — Creating a project with the Universal Render Pipeline: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal@14.0/manual/creating-a-new-project-with-urp.html
- Unity Manual — Installing URP into an existing project: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal@7.1/manual/InstallURPIntoAProject.html
- Unity Manual — Introduction to 2D (for context on 2D-specific rendering features): https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/introduction-2d.html