HTMLCanvasElement: transferControlToOffscreen() method - Web APIs

HTMLCanvasElement: transferControlToOffscreen() method - Web APIs | MDN

Syntax

transferControlToOffscreen()

Parameters

None.

Return value

An OffscreenCanvas object.

Exceptions

InvalidStateError DOMException

Throws if:

the canvas has been set a context mode by calling HTMLCanvasElement.getContext()
the canvas has already transferred its control to offscreen.

Examples

The following example shows how to transfer control to an OffscreenCanvas object on the main thread.

const htmlCanvas = document.createElement("canvas");
const offscreen = htmlCanvas.transferControlToOffscreen();
const gl = offscreen.getContext("webgl");

// Some drawing using the gl context…

The following example shows how to transfer control to an OffscreenCanvas object on a worker.

const offscreen = document.querySelector("canvas").transferControlToOffscreen();
const worker = new Worker("my-worker-url.js");
worker.postMessage({ canvas: offscreen }, [offscreen]);

Specifications

Specification
HTML # dom-canvas-transfercontroltooffscreen-dev

Browser compatibility

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This page was last modified on Mar 25, 2025 by MDN contributors.