GPUDevice: importExternalTexture() 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.

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

js
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:

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:

js
// …

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

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
importExternalTexture
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 144 (Release date: 2025-10-14)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on Windows only, in all contexts except for service workers.
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
footnote No support
display-p3 color space
Experimental
Chrome – Partial support
Chrome 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
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 121 (Release date: 2024-01-25)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Edge 144.
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – Partial support
Opera 107 (Release date: 2024-02-07)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Opera 128.
Safari – No support
Safari
footnote No support
Chrome Android – Partial support
Chrome Android 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Chrome Android 144.
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – Partial support
Opera Android 81 (Release date: 2024-03-14)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Opera Android 95.
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – Partial support
Samsung Internet 25 (Release date: 2024-04-24)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
WebView Android – Partial support
WebView Android 121 (Release date: 2024-01-23)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since WebView Android 144.
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
Deno – No support
Deno
footnote No support
VideoFrame object as source
Chrome – Partial support
Chrome 116 (Release date: 2023-08-15)
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 116 (Release date: 2023-08-21)
footnote Partial support
footnote Supported on ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows.
footnote Supported on Linux (Intel Gen12+ GPUs only) since Edge 144.
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 144 (Release date: 2025-10-14)
footnote Full support
Opera – Partial support
Opera 102 (Release date: 2023-08-23)
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
footnote No support

Legend

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

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

See also