CanvasRenderingContext2D.imageSmoothingEnabled

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.imageSmoothingEnabled property of the Canvas 2D API can be set to change if images are smoothed (true, default) or not (false). On getting the imageSmoothingEnabled property, the last value it was set to, is returned.

This property is useful for pixel-art themed games, when scaling the canvas for example. The default resizing algorithm can create blurry effects and ruins the beautiful pixels. Set this property to false in that case. See also the CSS image-rendering property.

Syntax

ctx.imageSmoothingEnabled = value;

Options

value

A Boolean indicating whether to smooth images or not.

Examples

Using the imageSmoothingEnabled property

This is just a simple code snippet using the imageSmoothingEnabled property with a scaled image.

HTML

<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

JavaScript

var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

var img = new Image();
img.src = 'https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/222/Canvas_createpattern.png';
img.onload = function() {
 ctx.mozImageSmoothingEnabled = false;
 ctx.webkitImageSmoothingEnabled = false;
 ctx.msImageSmoothingEnabled = false;
 ctx.imageSmoothingEnabled = false;
 ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0, 400, 200);
};

Edit the code below and see your changes update live in the canvas:

<canvas id="canvas" width="400" height="200" class="playable-canvas"></canvas>
<div class="playable-buttons">
  <input id="edit" type="button" value="Edit" />
  <input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" />
</div>
<textarea id="code" class="playable-code" style="height:140px;">
var img = new Image();
img.src = 'https://mdn.mozillademos.org/files/222/Canvas_createpattern.png';
img.onload = function() {
 ctx.mozImageSmoothingEnabled = false;
 ctx.webkitImageSmoothingEnabled = false;
 ctx.msImageSmoothingEnabled = false;
 ctx.imageSmoothingEnabled = false;
 ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0, 400, 200);
};</textarea>

var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
var textarea = document.getElementById('code');
var reset = document.getElementById('reset');
var edit = document.getElementById('edit');
var code = textarea.value;

function drawCanvas() {
  ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
  eval(textarea.value);
}

reset.addEventListener('click', function() {
  textarea.value = code;
  drawCanvas();
});

edit.addEventListener('click', function() {
  textarea.focus();
})

textarea.addEventListener('input', drawCanvas);
window.addEventListener('load', drawCanvas);

Specifications

Browser compatibility

[1] Supported with a webkit prefix until version 29.

See also

• The interface defining it, CanvasRenderingContext2D
• image-rendering