Document: parseHTML() static 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.

The parseHTML() static method of the Document object provides an XSS-safe method to parse and sanitize a string of HTML in order to create a new Document instance.

Syntax

js
Document.parseHTML(input)
Document.parseHTML(input, options)

Parameters

input

A string defining HTML to be sanitized and injected into the shadow root.

options Optional

An options object with the following optional parameters:

sanitizer

A Sanitizer or SanitizerConfig object which defines what elements of the input will be allowed or removed, or the string "default" for the default sanitizer configuration. The method will remove any XSS-unsafe elements and attributes, even if allowed by the sanitizer. If not specified, the default Sanitizer configuration is used.

Note that if you're using the same configuration multiple times, it's expected to be more efficient to use a Sanitizer and modify it when you need to.

Return value

A Document.

Exceptions

TypeError

This is thrown if options.sanitizer is passed a:

  • SanitizerConfig that isn't valid. For example, a configuration that includes both "allowed" and "removed" configuration settings.
  • string that does not have the value "default".
  • value that is not a Sanitizer, SanitizerConfig, or string.

Description

The parseHTML() method parses and sanitize a string of HTML in order to create a new Document instance that is XSS-safe. The resulting Document will have a content type of "text/html", a character set of UTF-8, and a URL of "about:blank".

If no sanitizer is specified in the options.sanitizer parameter, parseHTML() is used with the default sanitizer configuration. This configuration is suitable for the majority of use cases as it prevents XSS attacks, as well as other attacks like clickjacking or spoofing.

A custom Sanitizer or SanitizerConfig can be specified to choose which elements, attributes, and comments are allowed or removed. Note that even if unsafe options are allowed by the sanitizer, they will still be removed when using this method (it removes the same elements as a sanitizer on which Sanitizer.removeUnsafe() has been called).

The input HTML may include declarative shadow roots. If the string of HTML defines more than one declarative shadow root in a particular shadow host then only the first ShadowRoot is created — subsequent declarations are parsed as <template> elements within that shadow root.

parseHTML() should be used instead of Document.parseHTMLUnsafe(), unless there is a specific need to allow unsafe elements and attributes. If the HTML to be parsed doesn't need to contain unsafe HTML entities, then you should use Document.parseHTML().

Note that since this method always sanitizes input strings of XSS-unsafe entities, it is not secured or validated using the Trusted Types API.

Specifications

Specification
HTML Sanitizer API
# dom-document-parsehtml

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
parseHTML static method
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 148 (Release date: 2026-02-24)
footnote Full support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – No support
Safari
footnote No support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 148 (Release date: 2026-02-24)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
No support
No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

See also