Mutter (software)

Mutter
DeveloperGNOME Project
ReleaseApril 2011 (2011-04)
Stable release
50.4 Edit this on Wikidata / 4 August 2026 (4 August 2026)
Written inC
Operating systemUnix-like
Size40.2 kB (amd64 .deb package)
Type
LicenseGPL-2.0-or-later
Websitemutter.gnome.org
Repositorygitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter

Mutter is a display server and window manager for the Wayland protocol ("compositor"). It is the default window manager for GNOME.

Mutter was initially a compositing window manager designed and implemented for the X Window System, but then evolved to be a Wayland compositor. It became the default window manager in GNOME 3, replacing Metacity, which used GTK for rendering. The name "Mutter" is a combination of "Metacity" and "Clutter".