HTML: The Living Standard

Edition for Web Developers — Last Updated 29 May 2025

1. 1. 8.10 Images
      1. 8.10.1 The ImageData interface
      2. 8.10.2 The ImageBitmap interface
   2. 8.11 Animation frames

8.10 Images

8.10.1 The ImageData interface

An ImageData object represents a rectanglar bitmap with width equal to the width attribute and height equal to the height attribute. The pixel values of this bitmap are stored in the data attribute in left-to-right order, row by row from top to bottom, starting with 0 for the top left pixel, with the order and numerical representation of the color components of each pixel determined by the pixelFormat attribute. The color space of the pixel values of the bitmap is determined by the colorSpace attribute.

imageData = new ImageData(sw, sh [, settings])

Returns an ImageData object with the given dimensions and the color space indicated by settings. All the pixels in the returned object are transparent black.

Throws an "IndexSizeError" DOMException if either of the width or height arguments are zero.

imageData = new ImageData(data, sw [, sh [, settings ] ])

Returns an ImageData object using the data provided in the ImageDataArray argument, interpreted using the given dimensions and the color space indicated by settings.

The byte length of the data needs to be a multiple of the number of bytes per pixel times the given width. If the height is provided as well, then the length needs to be exactly the number of bytes per pixel times the width times the height.

Throws an "IndexSizeError" DOMException if the given data and dimensions can't be interpreted consistently, or if either dimension is zero.

imageData.width

imageData.height

Returns the actual dimensions of the data in the ImageData object, in pixels.

imageData.data

Returns the one-dimensional array containing the data in RGBA order, as integers in the range 0 to 255.

imageData.colorSpace

MDN

ImageData/colorSpace

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Returns the color space of the pixels.

The new ImageData(sw, sh, settings) constructor steps are:

1. If one or both of sw and sh are zero, then throw an "IndexSizeError" DOMException.

2. Initialize this given sw, sh, and settings.

3. Initialize the image data of this to transparent black.

The new ImageData(data, sw, sh, settings) constructor steps are:

1. Let bytesPerPixel be 4 if settings["pixelFormat"] is "rgba-unorm8"; otherwise 8.

2. Let length be the buffer source byte length of data.

3. If length is not a nonzero integral multiple of bytesPerPixel, then throw an "InvalidStateError" DOMException.

4. Let length be length divided by bytesPerPixel.

5. If length is not an integral multiple of sw, then throw an "IndexSizeError" DOMException.

   At this step, the length is guaranteed to be greater than zero (otherwise the second step above would have aborted the steps), so if sw is zero, this step will throw the exception and return.

6. Let height be length divided by sw.

7. If sh was given and its value is not equal to height, then throw an "IndexSizeError" DOMException.

8. Initialize this given sw, sh, settings, and source set to data.

   This step does not set this's data to a copy of data. It sets it to the actual ImageDataArray object passed as data.

To initialize an ImageData object imageData, given a positive integer number of pixels per row pixelsPerRow, a positive integer number of rows rows, an ImageDataSettings settings, an optional ImageDataArray source, and an optional PredefinedColorSpace defaultColorSpace:

1. If source was given:

   1. If settings["pixelFormat"] equals "rgba-unorm8" and source is not a Uint8ClampedArray, then throw an "InvalidStateError" DOMException.

   2. If settings["pixelFormat"] is "rgba-float16" and source is not a Float16Array, then throw an "InvalidStateError" DOMException.

   3. Initialize the data attribute of imageData to source.

2. Otherwise (source was not given):

   1. If settings["pixelFormat"] is "rgba-unorm8", then initialize the data attribute of imageData to a new Uint8ClampedArray object. The Uint8ClampedArray object must use a new ArrayBuffer for its storage, and must have a zero byte offset and byte length equal to the length of its storage, in bytes. The storage ArrayBuffer must have a length of 4 × rows × pixelsPerRow bytes.

   2. Otherwise, if settings["pixelFormat"] is "rgba-float16", then initialize the data attribute of imageData to a new Float16Array object. The Float16Array object must use a new ArrayBuffer for its storage, and must have a zero byte offset and byte length equal to the length of its storage, in bytes. The storage ArrayBuffer must have a length of 8 × rows × pixelsPerRow bytes.

   3. If the storage ArrayBuffer could not be allocated, then rethrow the RangeError thrown by JavaScript, and return.

3. Initialize the width attribute of imageData to pixelsPerRow.

4. Initialize the height attribute of imageData to rows.

5. Initialize the pixelFormat attribute of imageData to settings["pixelFormat"].

6. If settings["colorSpace"] exists, then initialize the colorSpace attribute of imageData to settings["colorSpace"].

7. Otherwise, if defaultColorSpace was given, then initialize the colorSpace attribute of imageData to defaultColorSpace.

8. Otherwise, initialize the colorSpace attribute of imageData to "srgb".

ImageData objects are serializable objects. Their serialization steps, given value and serialized, are:

1. Set serialized.[[Data]] to the sub-serialization of the value of value's data attribute.

2. Set serialized.[[Width]] to the value of value's width attribute.

3. Set serialized.[[Height]] to the value of value's height attribute.

4. Set serialized.[[ColorSpace]] to the value of value's colorSpace attribute.

5. Set serialized.[[PixelFormat]] to the value of value's pixelFormat attribute.

Their deserialization steps, given serialized, value, and targetRealm, are:

1. Initialize value's data attribute to the sub-deserialization of serialized.[[Data]].

2. Initialize value's width attribute to serialized.[[Width]].

3. Initialize value's height attribute to serialized.[[Height]].

4. Initialize value's colorSpace attribute to serialized.[[ColorSpace]].

5. Initialize value's pixelFormat attribute to serialized.[[PixelFormat]].

The ImageDataPixelFormat enumeration is used to specify type of the data attribute of an ImageData and the arrangement and numerical representation of the color components for each pixel.

The "rgba-unorm8" value indicates that the data attribute of an ImageData must be of type Uint8ClampedArray. The color components of each pixel must be stored in four sequential elements in the order of red, green, blue, and then alpha. Each element represents the 8-bit unsigned normalized value for that component.

The "rgba-float16" value indicates that the data attribute of an ImageData must be of type Float16Array. The color components of each pixel must be stored in four sequential elements in the order of red, green, blue, and then alpha. Each element represents the value for that component.

8.10.2 The ImageBitmap interface

An ImageBitmap object represents a bitmap image that can be painted to a canvas without undue latency.

The exact judgement of what is undue latency of this is left up to the implementer, but in general if making use of the bitmap requires network I/O, or even local disk I/O, then the latency is probably undue; whereas if it only requires a blocking read from a GPU or system RAM, the latency is probably acceptable.

promise = self.createImageBitmap(image [, options ])

promise = self.createImageBitmap(image, sx, sy, sw, sh [, options ])

Takes image, which can be an img element, an SVG image element, a video element, a canvas element, a Blob object, an ImageData object, or another ImageBitmap object, and returns a promise that is resolved when a new ImageBitmap is created.

If no ImageBitmap object can be constructed, for example because the provided image data is not actually an image, then the promise is rejected instead.

If sx, sy, sw, and sh arguments are provided, the source image is cropped to the given pixels, with any pixels missing in the original replaced by transparent black. These coordinates are in the source image's pixel coordinate space, not in CSS pixels.

If options is provided, the ImageBitmap object's bitmap data is modified according to options. For example, if the premultiplyAlpha option is set to "premultiply", the bitmap data's non-alpha color components are premultiplied by the alpha component.

Rejects the promise with an "InvalidStateError" DOMException if the source image is not in a valid state (e.g., an img element that hasn't loaded successfully, an ImageBitmap object whose [[Detached]] internal slot value is true, an ImageData object whose data attribute value's [[ViewedArrayBuffer]] internal slot is detached, or a Blob whose data cannot be interpreted as a bitmap image).

Rejects the promise with a "SecurityError" DOMException if the script is not allowed to access the image data of the source image (e.g. a video that is CORS-cross-origin, or a canvas being drawn on by a script in a worker from another origin).

imageBitmap.close()

Releases imageBitmap's underlying bitmap data.

imageBitmap.width

Returns the natural width of the image, in CSS pixels.

imageBitmap.height

Returns the natural height of the image, in CSS pixels.

var sprites = {};
function loadMySprites() {
  var image = new Image();
  image.src = 'mysprites.png';
  var resolver;
  var promise = new Promise(function (arg) { resolver = arg });
  image.onload = function () {
    resolver(Promise.all([
      createImageBitmap(image,  0,  0, 40, 40).then(function (image) { sprites.person = image }),
      createImageBitmap(image, 40,  0, 40, 40).then(function (image) { sprites.grass  = image }),
      createImageBitmap(image, 80,  0, 40, 40).then(function (image) { sprites.tree   = image }),
      createImageBitmap(image,  0, 40, 40, 40).then(function (image) { sprites.hut    = image }),
      createImageBitmap(image, 40, 40, 40, 40).then(function (image) { sprites.apple  = image }),
      createImageBitmap(image, 80, 40, 40, 40).then(function (image) { sprites.snake  = image })
    ]));
  };
  return promise;
}

function runDemo() {
  var canvas = document.querySelector('canvas#demo');
  var context = canvas.getContext('2d');
  context.drawImage(sprites.tree, 30, 10);
  context.drawImage(sprites.snake, 70, 10);
}

loadMySprites().then(runDemo);

8.11 Animation frames

Some objects include the AnimationFrameProvider interface mixin.

Each AnimationFrameProvider object also has a target object that stores the provider's internal state. It is defined as follows:

If the AnimationFrameProvider is a Window

The Window's associated Document

If the AnimationFrameProvider is a DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope

The DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope

Each target object has a map of animation frame callbacks, which is an ordered map that must be initially empty, and an animation frame callback identifier, which is a number that must initially be zero.

An AnimationFrameProvider provider is considered supported if any of the following are true:

• provider is a Window.

• provider's owner set contains a Document object.

• Any of the DedicatedWorkerGlobalScope objects in provider's owner set are supported.

The requestAnimationFrame(callback) method steps are:

1. If this is not supported, then throw a "NotSupportedError" DOMException.

2. Let target be this's target object.

3. Increment target's animation frame callback identifier by one, and let handle be the result.

4. Let callbacks be target's map of animation frame callbacks.

5. Set callbacks[handle] to callback.

6. Return handle.

The cancelAnimationFrame(handle) method steps are:

1. If this is not supported, then throw a "NotSupportedError" DOMException.

2. Let callbacks be this's target object's map of animation frame callbacks.

3. Remove callbacks[handle].

To run the animation frame callbacks for a target object target with a timestamp now:

1. Let callbacks be target's map of animation frame callbacks.

2. Let callbackHandles be the result of getting the keys of callbacks.

3. For each handle in callbackHandles, if handle exists in callbacks:

   1. Let callback be callbacks[handle].

   2. Remove callbacks[handle].

   3. Invoke callback with « now » and "report".

const offscreenCanvas = document.getElementById("c").transferControlToOffscreen();
worker.postMessage(offscreenCanvas, [offscreenCanvas]);

let ctx, pos = 0;
function draw(dt) {
  ctx.clearRect(0, 0, 100, 100);
  ctx.fillRect(pos, 0, 10, 10);
  pos += 10 * dt;
  requestAnimationFrame(draw);
}

self.onmessage = function(ev) {
  const transferredCanvas = ev.data;
  ctx = transferredCanvas.getContext("2d");
  draw();
};