MessageChannel

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2015.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The MessageChannel interface of the Channel Messaging API allows us to create a new message channel and send data through it via its two MessagePort properties.

Constructor

MessageChannel()

Returns a new MessageChannel object with two new MessagePort objects.

Instance properties

MessageChannel.port1 Read only

Returns port1 of the channel.

MessageChannel.port2 Read only

Returns port2 of the channel.

Example

In the following example, you can see a new channel being created using the MessageChannel() constructor.

When the IFrame has loaded, we register an onmessage handler for MessageChannel.port1 and transfer MessageChannel.port2 to the IFrame using the window.postMessage method along with a message.

When a message is received back from the IFrame, the onMessage function outputs the message to a paragraph.

js
const channel = new MessageChannel();
const output = document.querySelector(".output");
const iframe = document.querySelector("iframe");

// Wait for the iframe to load
iframe.addEventListener("load", onLoad);

function onLoad() {
  // Listen for messages on port1
  channel.port1.onmessage = onMessage;

  // Transfer port2 to the iframe
  iframe.contentWindow.postMessage("Hello from the main page!", "*", [
    channel.port2,
  ]);
}

// Handle messages received on port1
function onMessage(e) {
  output.innerHTML = e.data;
}

For a full working example, see our channel messaging basic demo on GitHub (run it live too).

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# message-channels

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
Bun
Deno
Node.js
MessageChannel
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 2 (Release date: 2009-05-21)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 10.6 (Release date: 2010-07-01)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 5 (Release date: 2010-06-07)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 11 (Release date: 2011-03-22)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 4.2 (Release date: 2010-11-22)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 4.2 (Release date: 2010-11-22)
footnote Full support
Bun – Full support
Bun 1 (Release date: 2023-09-08)
footnote Full support
Deno – Full support
Deno 1.12 (Release date: 2021-07-13)
footnote Full support
Node.js – Partial support
Node.js 11.7 – 14.18 (Release date: 2019-01-18)
footnote Partial support
footnote Available as a part of the worker_threads module.
Node.js – Full support
Node.js 15 (Release date: 2020-10-20)
footnote Full support
MessageChannel() constructor
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 2 (Release date: 2009-05-21)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 10.6 (Release date: 2010-07-01)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 5 (Release date: 2010-06-07)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 11 (Release date: 2011-03-22)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 4.2 (Release date: 2010-11-22)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 4.2 (Release date: 2010-11-22)
footnote Full support
Bun – Full support
Bun 1 (Release date: 2023-09-08)
footnote Full support
Deno – Full support
Deno 1.12 (Release date: 2021-07-13)
footnote Full support
Node.js – Full support
Node.js 11.7 (Release date: 2019-01-18)
footnote Full support
port1
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 2 (Release date: 2009-05-21)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 10.6 (Release date: 2010-07-01)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 5 (Release date: 2010-06-07)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 11 (Release date: 2011-03-22)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 4.2 (Release date: 2010-11-22)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 4.2 (Release date: 2010-11-22)
footnote Full support
Bun – Full support
Bun 1 (Release date: 2023-09-08)
footnote Full support
Deno – Full support
Deno 1.12 (Release date: 2021-07-13)
footnote Full support
Node.js – Full support
Node.js 11.7 (Release date: 2019-01-18)
footnote Full support
port2
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 2 (Release date: 2009-05-21)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 10.6 (Release date: 2010-07-01)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 5 (Release date: 2010-06-07)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 41 (Release date: 2015-09-22)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 11 (Release date: 2011-03-22)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 4.2 (Release date: 2010-11-22)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 4.2 (Release date: 2010-11-22)
footnote Full support
Bun – Full support
Bun 1 (Release date: 2023-09-08)
footnote Full support
Deno – Full support
Deno 1.12 (Release date: 2021-07-13)
footnote Full support
Node.js – Full support
Node.js 11.7 (Release date: 2019-01-18)
footnote Full support

Legend

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

Full support
Full support
Partial support
Partial support
Has more compatibility info.

See also