GPUDevice: importExternalTexture() method

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

Secure context: This feature is available only in secure contexts (HTTPS), in some or all supporting browsers.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The importExternalTexture() method of the GPUDevice interface takes an HTMLVideoElement or a VideoFrame object as an input and returns a GPUExternalTexture wrapper object containing a snapshot of the video that can be used as a frame in GPU rendering operations.

Syntax

importExternalTexture(descriptor)

Parameters

descriptor

An object containing the following properties:

colorSpace Optional: An enumerated value specifying the color space to use for the video frame. Possible values are "srgb" and "display-p3". If omitted, colorSpace defaults to "srgb".
label Optional: A string providing a label that can be used to identify the object, for example in GPUError messages or console warnings.
source: The HTMLVideoElement or VideoFrame source of the video snapshot.

Return value

A GPUExternalTexture object instance.

Note that the moment when the GPUExternalTexture object expires (is destroyed) depends on what its source is:

GPUExternalTexture objects with an HTMLVideoElement source expire as soon as they are used (for example in a bind group).
GPUExternalTexture objects with an VideoFrame source expire only when the VideoFrame is closed, for example via a VideoFrame.close() call.

Validation

The following criteria must be met when calling importExternalTexture(), otherwise a GPUValidationError is generated and an invalid GPUExternalTexture object is returned:

The video snapshot is usable (e.g. the video source is loaded properly, and doesn't have a width or height of 0).

Exceptions

SecurityError DOMException: Thrown if the video source data is cross-origin.

Examples

In the WebGPU samples Video Uploading sample, an importExternalTexture() call is used as the value of a bind group entry resource, specified when creating a GPUBindGroup via a GPUDevice.createBindGroup() call:

//...

const uniformBindGroup = device.createBindGroup({
  layout: pipeline.getBindGroupLayout(0),
  entries: [
    {
      binding: 1,
      resource: sampler,
    },
    {
      binding: 2,
      resource: device.importExternalTexture({
        source: video,
      }),
    },
  ],
});

//...

Specifications

Specification
WebGPU # dom-gpudevice-importexternaltexture

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser