# Backwards compatibility with old versions of VTK?
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/backwards-compatibility-with-old-versions-of-vtk/5950
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Tags:** vtk
**Created:** [December 1, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/backwards-compatibility-with-old-versions-of-vtk/5950 "2020-12-01T20:24:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gabriel\_Marks](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Gabriel_Marks)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/backwards-compatibility-with-old-versions-of-vtk/5950/1 "2020-12-01T20:24:12Z")
Hi all,
How can I find out how far backwards compatibility goes between Paraview and VTK? For example, if I’m building Paraview 5.7, what’s the earliest version of VTK that I can use? Thank you.
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### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/backwards-compatibility-with-old-versions-of-vtk/5950/2 "2020-12-01T20:30:02Z")
You have no choice, just use the version of VTK packaged within ParaView.
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### Author:  [@danlipsa](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/danlipsa)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/backwards-compatibility-with-old-versions-of-vtk/5950/3 "2020-12-01T20:34:49Z")
Each ParaView version uses a specific SHA for VTK - this is the reason VTK is a submodule inside ParaView sources.
Using any other SHA or version of VTK is likely to result in compile errors or hard to trace runtime bugs.
This allows us to maximize the flexibility and minimize costs related to ParaView and VTK releases. The drawback is
additional code and potential issues in a system that includes both ParaView and VTK.