GPUCommandEncoder: copyTextureToBuffer() method

Limited availability

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

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

The copyTextureToBuffer() method of the GPUCommandEncoder interface encodes a command that copies data from a GPUTexture to a GPUBuffer.

Syntax

js
copyTextureToBuffer(source, destination, copySize)

Parameters

source

An object defining the texture to copy the data from. Combined with copySize, defines the region of the source texture subresource. source can take the following properties:

aspect Optional

An enumerated value defining which aspects of the texture to copy the data from. Possible values are:

"all"

All available aspects of the texture format will be copied from, which can mean all or any of color, depth, and stencil, depending on what kind of format you are dealing with.

"depth-only"

Only the depth aspect of a depth-or-stencil format will be copied from.

"stencil-only"

Only the stencil aspect of a depth-or-stencil format will be copied from.

If omitted, aspect takes a value of "all".

mipLevel Optional

A number representing the mip-map level of the texture to copy the data from. If omitted, mipLevel defaults to 0.

origin Optional

An object or array specifying the origin of the copy — the minimum corner of the texture region to copy the data from. Together with size, this defines the full extent of the region to copy from. The x, y, and z values default to 0 if any of all of origin is omitted.

For example, you can pass an array [0, 0, 0], or its equivalent object { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 }.

texture

A GPUTexture object representing the texture to copy the data from.

destination

An object that defines the buffer to write to, plus the layout of the data to write to the buffer. Combined with copySize, it defines the region of the destination buffer. source can take the following properties:

buffer

The GPUBuffer to write to.

offset Optional

The offset, in bytes, from the beginning of data to the start position to write the copied data to. If omitted, offset defaults to 0.

bytesPerRow Optional

A number representing the stride, in bytes, between the start of each block row (i.e., a row of complete texel blocks) and the subsequent block row. This is required if there are multiple block rows (i.e., the copy height or depth is more than one block).

rowsPerImage Optional

The number of block rows per single image inside the data. bytesPerRow × rowsPerImage will give you the stride, in bytes, between the start of each complete image. This is required if there are multiple images to copy.

copySize

An object or array specifying the width, height, and depth/array layer count of the copied data. The width value must always be specified, while the height and depth/array layer count values are optional and will default to 1 if omitted.

For example, you can pass an array [16, 16, 2], or its equivalent object { width: 16, height: 16, depthOrArrayLayers: 2 }.

Return value

None (Undefined).

Validation

The following criteria must be met when calling copyTextureToBuffer(), otherwise a GPUValidationError is generated and the GPUCommandEncoder becomes invalid.

For the source:

For the destination:

  • destination.bytesPerRow is a multiple of 256.
  • The destination.buffer's GPUBuffer.usage includes the GPUBufferUsage.COPY_DST flag.

Examples

js
commandEncoder.copyTextureToBuffer(
  {
    texture: sourceTexture,
  },
  {
    buffer: destinationBuffer,
  },
  {
    width: 16,
    height: 16,
    depthOrArrayLayers: 2,
  },
);

Specifications

Specification
WebGPU
# dom-gpucommandencoder-copytexturetobuffer

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile server
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
Deno
copyTextureToBuffer
Chrome – Partial support
Chrome 113 (Release date: 2023-05-02)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Chrome 144.
Edge – Partial support
Edge 113 (Release date: 2023-05-05)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Edge 144.
Firefox – Partial support
Firefox 141 (Release date: 2025-07-22)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supports all contexts except service workers. See bug 1942431.
footnote Supports Windows since Firefox 141. See bug 1972486.
footnote Supports macOS Tahoe on Apple silicon since Firefox 145. See bug 1992212.
footnote Supports older macOS versions on Apple silicon since Firefox 147. See bug 1993341.
footnote Does not support macOS on Intel CPUs. See bug 2004105.
footnote Does not support Linux. See bug 2006676.
Opera – Partial support
Opera 99 (Release date: 2023-05-16)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Opera 128.
Safari – Full support
Safari 26 (Release date: 2025-09-15)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 81 (Release date: 2024-03-14)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 26 (Release date: 2025-09-15)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 25 (Release date: 2024-04-24)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 26 (Release date: 2025-09-15)
footnote Full support
Deno – No support
Deno 1.8 – 1.31 (Release date: 2021-03-02)
footnote Removed in 1.32 and later
Deno – No support
Deno 1.39 (Release date: 2023-12-14)
disabled
disabled From version 1.39 users must explicitly set the --unstable-webgpu runtime flag.

Legend

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Full support
Full support
Partial support
Partial support
No support
No support
User must explicitly enable this feature.
Has more compatibility info.

See also