EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_FD_BIT specifies a POSIX file descriptor handle that has only limited valid usage outside of Vulkan and other compatible APIs. It must be compatible with the POSIX system calls dup, dup2, close, and the non-standard system call dup3. Additionally, it must be transportable over a socket using an SCM_RIGHTS control message. It owns a reference to the underlying memory resource represented by its Vulkan memory object.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_BIT specifies an NT handle that has only limited valid usage outside of Vulkan and other compatible APIs. It must be compatible with the functions DuplicateHandle, CloseHandle, CompareObjectHandles, GetHandleInformation, and SetHandleInformation. It owns a reference to the underlying memory resource represented by its Vulkan memory object.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_OPAQUE_WIN32_KMT_BIT specifies a global share handle that has only limited valid usage outside of Vulkan and other compatible APIs. It is not compatible with any native APIs. It does not own a reference to the underlying memory resource represented its Vulkan memory object, and will therefore become invalid when all Vulkan memory objects associated with it are destroyed.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D11_TEXTURE_BIT specifies an NT handle returned by IDXGIResource1::CreateSharedHandle referring to a Direct3D 10 or 11 texture resource. It owns a reference to the memory used by the Direct3D resource.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D11_TEXTURE_KMT_BIT specifies a global share handle returned by IDXGIResource::GetSharedHandle referring to a Direct3D 10 or 11 texture resource. It does not own a reference to the underlying Direct3D resource, and will therefore become invalid when all Vulkan memory objects and Direct3D resources associated with it are destroyed.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D12_HEAP_BIT specifies an NT handle returned by ID3D12Device::CreateSharedHandle referring to a Direct3D 12 heap resource. It owns a reference to the resources used by the Direct3D heap.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_D3D12_RESOURCE_BIT specifies an NT handle returned by ID3D12Device::CreateSharedHandle referring to a Direct3D 12 committed resource. It owns a reference to the memory used by the Direct3D resource.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_HOST_MAPPED_FOREIGN_MEMORY_BIT_EXT specifies a host pointer to host mapped foreign memory. It does not own a reference to the underlying memory resource, and will therefore become invalid if the foreign memory is unmapped or otherwise becomes no longer available.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_HOST_ALLOCATION_BIT_EXT specifies a host pointer returned by a host memory allocation command. It does not own a reference to the underlying memory resource, and will therefore become invalid if the host memory is freed.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_ANDROID_HARDWARE_BUFFER_BIT_ANDROID specifies an AHardwareBuffer object defined by the Android NDK. See Android Hardware Buffers for more details of this handle type.

EXTERNAL_MEMORY_HANDLE_TYPE_DMA_BUF_BIT_EXT is a file descriptor for a Linux dma_buf. It owns a reference to the underlying memory resource represented by its Vulkan memory object.