# OpenKinect/libfreenect

Drivers and libraries for the Xbox Kinect device on Windows, Linux, and OS X

Repository: https://github.com/OpenKinect/libfreenect
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/libfreenect
Homepage: http://openkinect.org
Language: C
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-08-05T16:18:04+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5773, "days_push": 758, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3826, forks 1175 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:22.346342+00:00)

## What it is
libfreenect is a userspace driver and library for the original Microsoft Xbox Kinect sensor, providing access to RGB and depth images, motor control, accelerometer, LED, and audio. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows and includes optional Python wrappers and OpenGL-based examples.

## Use cases
- capture rgb and depth images from a kinect sensor
- control kinect motor tilt and read accelerometer data
- use kinect depth camera for 3d scanning or robotics
- access kinect audio stream from linux or windows
- prototype computer vision with a kinect in python

## When to choose
- you have the original Xbox Kinect (model 1414) and need cross-platform userspace access
- you need low-level control of RGB, depth, motor, LED, accelerometer, or audio
- you want a C library with Python bindings and no vendor SDK dependency

## When to avoid
- you have a Kinect v2 (Xbox One) - use libfreenect2 instead
- you need Azure Kinect or newer Microsoft depth camera support
- you need maintained, actively developed drivers - the project is in maintenance mode

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: computer-vision, image-processing, audio-processing, sdk, graphics
- domain: computer-vision, hardware, robotics, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cpp, python, cross-platform
- tags: kinect, depth-camera, libusb, hardware-driver, 3d-scanning, userspace-driver, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- OpenKinect/libfreenect (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:22.346342+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:26:21.261347+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/OpenKinect/libfreenect (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:22.346342+00:00, sha 9cdf839c8e29)
  - homepage: http://openkinect.org (fetched 2026-08-29T09:21:02.852813+00:00, sha 923e06dc78cd)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.