Compiz is one of the first compositing window managers for the X Window System that uses 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. The effects, such as a minimization effect and a cube workspace are implemented as loadable plugins. Because it conforms to the Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual standard, Compiz can substitute for the default Metacity in GNOME or KWin in KDE.

Some of its features mimic those of competitors, such as Expose in Apple's Mac OS X and an Alt-Tab application-switcher that uses live previews, instead of just icons. The Composite extension to X is used, as is the OpenGL extension GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap. The first version of Compiz was released as free software by Novell (SUSE) in January 2006 in the wake of the also new Xgl.