Types of Unity Releases and Which One to Select

Unity provides two types of releases of the Unity Editor that you can use for your projects -

• LTS (Long-term support)
• Tech Stream

And each Unity release has a specific version name associated with it which denotes its release year and type.

In this blog post, we’ll be exploring both types to understand what they are and which one to select for your projects.

Note: To know how you can download and install Unity on your system, you can check out this blog post. It is recommended that you create a Unity ID before installing Unity and signing up for a Unity plan.

LTS (Long-Term Support)

LTS releases are the most stable ones available and are recommended for most users. These releases have stable support for the latest features and performance improvements which are production-ready.

LTS releases are packaged by year which means that all of the features and fixes done in that year are made available in a single bundle.

• Same-year LTS releases are not supposed to have breaking changes or new features. As of July 2022, the LTS version available is 2021.3.5f1.
• LTS releases are made once a year and receive continued support for 2 years in the form of bug fixes and minor improvements.

You can find the list of all the Unity LTS releases here.

Tech Stream

Tech stream releases contain features that are in active development or in alpha/beta mode and are recommended for users who want to explore or experiment with a particular feature.

These releases provide early access to new features and tools which might not be stable enough for production use, that is why these are meant for preproduction and prototyping.

• Tech Stream releases are improved based on early adopters’ feedback, eventually becoming LTS releases. As of July 2022, the Tech Stream version available is 2022.1.0.
• Tech Stream releases are made twice a year and receive continued support until the next Tech Stream release is published.

You can find the details of the latest Unity Tech Stream release here.

Details of the latest alpha release can be found here.

If you are interested in providing your feedback on the features that are being actively developed then you can join the Unity beta testing program here.

Release Versioning

Each Unity release has a specific version name assigned to it and these versions are categorized by year. The version name is of the following format -

[major].[minor].[update][other identifiers].

• major release number denotes the year of the release.
• minor release number denotes the number of the Unity release within the year.
• update release number denotes a minor update.
• other identifiers include additional information about the release, denoting whether the release is -
  • Alpha (a)
  • Beta (b)
  • Candidate for final release (rc)
  • Final release (f)
  • Long-Term Support (LTS)

Examples - 2021.3.2f1, 2022.2.0a18, 2022.1.0b16.

Installing Releases Using Unity Hub

You can conveniently install specific Unity releases using Unity Hub including LTS and Tech Stream (alpha/beta) releases.

Open Unity Hub, go to the Installs tab and click on Install Editor.

A window will open up where you can select the specific Unity release that you want to install. You can select from the official LTS releases and also Tech Stream pre-releases which include alpha and beta releases.

You can also manage all of your Unity installations using Unity Hub itself. More information about Unity Hub can be found here.

More blog posts and tutorials on Unity development can be found here.

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