WritableStream: getWriter() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since May 2022.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The getWriter() method of the WritableStream interface returns a new instance of WritableStreamDefaultWriter and locks the stream to that instance. While the stream is locked, no other writer can be acquired until this one is released.

Syntax

js
getWriter()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A WritableStreamDefaultWriter object instance.

Exceptions

TypeError

The stream you are trying to create a writer for is not a WritableStream or it is already locked to another writer.

Examples

The following example illustrates several features of this interface. It shows the creation of the WritableStream with a custom sink and an API-supplied queuing strategy. t then calls a function called sendMessage(), passing the newly created stream and a string. Inside this function it calls the stream's getWriter() method, which returns an instance of WritableStreamDefaultWriter. A forEach() call is used to write each chunk of the string to the stream. Finally, write() and close() return promises that are processed to deal with success or failure of chunks and streams.

js
const list = document.querySelector("ul");

function sendMessage(message, writableStream) {
  // defaultWriter is of type WritableStreamDefaultWriter
  const defaultWriter = writableStream.getWriter();
  const encoder = new TextEncoder();
  const encoded = encoder.encode(message);
  encoded.forEach((chunk) => {
    defaultWriter.ready
      .then(() => defaultWriter.write(chunk))
      .then(() => {
        console.log("Chunk written to sink.");
      })
      .catch((err) => {
        console.log("Chunk error:", err);
      });
  });
  // Call ready again to ensure that all chunks are written
  //   before closing the writer.
  defaultWriter.ready
    .then(() => {
      defaultWriter.close();
    })
    .then(() => {
      console.log("All chunks written");
    })
    .catch((err) => {
      console.log("Stream error:", err);
    });
}

const decoder = new TextDecoder("utf-8");
const queuingStrategy = new CountQueuingStrategy({ highWaterMark: 1 });
let result = "";
const writableStream = new WritableStream(
  {
    // Implement the sink
    write(chunk) {
      return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        const buffer = new ArrayBuffer(1);
        const view = new Uint8Array(buffer);
        view[0] = chunk;
        const decoded = decoder.decode(view, { stream: true });
        const listItem = document.createElement("li");
        listItem.textContent = `Chunk decoded: ${decoded}`;
        list.appendChild(listItem);
        result += decoded;
        resolve();
      });
    },
    close() {
      const listItem = document.createElement("li");
      listItem.textContent = `[MESSAGE RECEIVED] ${result}`;
      list.appendChild(listItem);
    },
    abort(err) {
      console.log("Sink error:", err);
    },
  },
  queuingStrategy,
);

sendMessage("Hello, world.", writableStream);

You can find the full code in our Simple writer example.

Specifications

Specification
Streams
# ref-for-ws-get-writer①

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
getWriter
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 59 (Release date: 2017-06-05)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 16 (Release date: 2017-10-17)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 100 (Release date: 2022-05-03)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 47 (Release date: 2017-08-09)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 14.1 (Release date: 2021-04-26)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 59 (Release date: 2017-06-06)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 100 (Release date: 2022-05-03)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 44 (Release date: 2017-12-11)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 14.5 (Release date: 2021-04-26)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 7 (Release date: 2018-03-16)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 59 (Release date: 2017-06-06)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 14.5 (Release date: 2021-04-26)
footnote Full support
Bun – Full support
Bun 1 (Release date: 2023-09-08)
footnote Full support
Deno – Full support
Deno 1 (Release date: 2020-05-13)
footnote Full support
Node.js – Full support
Node.js 16.5 (Release date: 2021-07-14)
footnote Full support

Legend

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

Full support
Full support