The Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) is a new display driver architecture supported in Windows Vista. This display architecture is an overhaul of the Windows XP-based display architecture and gives users a better performing, more reliable desktop experience, while supporting new scenarios, graphics, and applications.

WDDM also provides video content playback that rivals typical consumer electronics devices. It does this by making it easy to connect to external monitors, providing for protected HD video playback and increasing overall video playback quality. For the first time in Windows, graphics processing unit (GPU) multitasking is possible, enabling users to run more than one GPU-intensive application simultaneously.

Finally, WDDM improves the PC gaming experience by simplifying the generalized GPU programming model for developers, maintaining a consistency in hardware capabilities, which translates into a PC gaming experience that will leapfrog that of even the latest consoles.

This new display driver model is a crucial piece of the new desktop experience and thus having a GPU that supports WDDM is a requirement for the Windows Vista "Premium Ready" marketing designation and will be applicable to future Windows Vista logo programs.