Pannellum

Spec sheet

What it does

Pannellum is a browser-based panorama viewer for interactive 360-degree imagery.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Product

Pannellum is a lightweight, free, open source panorama viewer for the web, built with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and WebGL.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Security

The configuration reference says HTML escaping helps mitigate possible DOM XSS attacks; it is always enabled for the standalone viewer and defaults to false for the API.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Support

The project README directs questions and bug reports to the GitHub issue tracker.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

License

Pannellum is distributed under the MIT license.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Academic publication

The Journal of Open Source Software paper was submitted on 2019-07-16 and published on 2019-08-31.Read 14 Oct 2026 · theoj.org

Academic review outcome

The JOSS review issue records the software paper as accepted and published for version 2.5.3.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com

API surface

The API documents viewer and renderer controls including scene loading, hotspot management, orientation, fullscreen, movement and event listeners.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Browser requirements

The feature page lists full support for Firefox 23+, Chrome 24+, Safari 8+, Internet Explorer 11+ and Edge with suitable graphics drivers.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Browser support

The features page lists full support for Firefox 23+, Chrome 24+, Safari 8+, Internet Explorer 11+, and Edge, with appropriate graphics drivers.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

CDN files

The download page provides pannellum.htm plus jsDelivr URLs for pannellum.js and pannellum.css.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Company structure

The project identifies Matthew Petroff as its developer rather than naming a software company.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Compass

Compass headings are listed as a built-in feature.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Configuration

Viewer settings can be supplied through URL parameters or a JSON configuration file.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Customization

Configuration options include user-facing string translation and custom hot spot links, handlers, and tooltip functions.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Documentation depth

The project publishes an overview, tutorials, examples, configuration reference and API reference.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Downloads

The download page offers a minified standalone viewer and a separate source code download with utilities and some documentation.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Embedding

Pannellum can run standalone, inside an iframe, or through its JavaScript API.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Extensibility

The published paper says external code can add custom controls and connect the viewer to other page elements such as maps.Read 14 Oct 2026 · theoj.org

Framework support

The project describes itself as framework-free.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Hosting

Pannellum is static content that can be hosted on virtually any web server, and a CDN is provided for low-to-medium traffic sites.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Hosting model

Because the distribution is static content, it can be placed on nearly any web server; an official CDN is also provided.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Hotspots and tours

Hotspots can show information and connect multiple panoramas into virtual tours.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Independent adoption

A Karlstad University project used Pannellum for a hosted laboratory tour with room navigation hotspots and contextual information points.Read 14 Oct 2026 · kau.se

Independent classification

AlternativeTo lists Pannellum as free, open source and web-based, with eight listed alternatives.Read 14 Oct 2026 · alternativeto.net

Independent listing

SourceForge describes its Pannellum page as an unaffiliated exact mirror of the GitHub project and showed the last update as 2026-02-19.Read 14 Oct 2026 · sourceforge.net

Integration

The overview says Google Photo Sphere XMP metadata is automatically read and used when provided with an equirectangular image.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Limit

The overview recommends limiting equirectangular images to preferably 4096 pixels wide for support across WebGL-capable devices; 8192 pixels is acceptable for most devices.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Limit: deployment connectivity

The Karlstad University report records weeks of connectivity problems reaching its hosted viewer before institutional IT assistance resolved access.Read 14 Oct 2026 · kau.se

Limit: mobile and framework apps

The project README says mobile, app and web-framework integrations are not officially supported, may work, and are not tested targets.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com

Limit: multiresolution tooling

Hysen Labs notes that tiled panoramas require external tools such as Hugin's nona program plus Python imaging dependencies.Read 14 Oct 2026 · hysenlabs.com

Limit: older browsers

The README warns that only recent browsers are tested and older-browser regressions can occur.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com

Maker location

Matthew Petroff's public GitHub profile lists Boston.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com

Multiresolution conversion

The supplied generate.py utility converts equirectangular images into tiled multiresolution output.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Multiresolution tradeoff

Multiresolution panoramas support arbitrarily large images and faster tile loading but require conversion work and hosting many files.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Package version

The jsDelivr package page identifies version 2.5.7 and MIT licensing.Read 14 Oct 2026 · jsdelivr.com

Panorama formats

It supports equirectangular, partial, cube-map and multiresolution panoramas.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Praise: rapid prototyping

The Karlstad University report says its proof of concept was developed quickly and demonstrated that the intended Street View-style experience was feasible.Read 14 Oct 2026 · kau.se

Praise: self-hosting

Hysen Labs characterizes Pannellum as a good fit for self-hosted virtual tours because the viewer and image files remain under the deployer's control.Read 14 Oct 2026 · hysenlabs.com

Rendering

It provides WebGL and CSS 3D rendering paths.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Security update

Release 2.5.7, dated 2026-02-18, fixed a hotspot-attribute XSS issue, required same-origin JSON configuration for the standalone viewer and sanitized load-error URLs.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com

Self-hosting installation

Self-hosting requires placing pannellum.htm or the JavaScript and CSS files on a web server; local file opening is restricted by browser security.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Size

The viewer is listed as 21kB gzipped.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Support channel

The GitHub project directs bug reports and questions to repository issues and welcomes pull requests.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com

Technology

The viewer uses JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3 and WebGL and does not require browser plugins.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Video

Panoramic video playback is supported.Read 14 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Video extension

The JOSS paper describes panoramic video support as a bundled extension built using the API.Read 14 Oct 2026 · theoj.org

Viewing features

Features include hot spots and tours, compass headings, video support, and WebGL and CSS 3D renderers.Read 4 Oct 2026 · pannellum.org

Plans and prices

Every Pannellum plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• 360 Video Software#11 of 308.4