WebAssembly.Instance() constructor

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since October 2017.

The WebAssembly.Instance() constructor creates a new Instance object which is a stateful, executable instance of a WebAssembly.Module.

Warning: Since instantiation for large modules can be expensive, developers should only use the Instance() constructor when synchronous instantiation is absolutely required; the asynchronous WebAssembly.instantiateStreaming() method should be used at all other times.

Syntax

js
new WebAssembly.Instance(module, importObject)

Parameters

module

The WebAssembly.Module object to be instantiated.

importObject Optional

An object containing the values to be imported into the newly-created Instance, such as functions or WebAssembly.Memory objects. There must be one matching property for each declared import of module or else a WebAssembly.LinkError is thrown.

Exceptions

Examples

Synchronously instantiating a WebAssembly module

The WebAssembly.Instance() constructor function can be called to synchronously instantiate a given WebAssembly.Module object, for example:

js
const importObject = {
  my_namespace: {
    imported_func(arg) {
      console.log(arg);
    },
  },
};

fetch("simple.wasm")
  .then((response) => response.arrayBuffer())
  .then((bytes) => {
    const mod = new WebAssembly.Module(bytes);
    const instance = new WebAssembly.Instance(mod, importObject);
    instance.exports.exported_func();
  });

However, the preferred way to get an Instance is through the asynchronous WebAssembly.instantiateStreaming() function, for example like this:

js
const importObject = {
  my_namespace: {
    imported_func(arg) {
      console.log(arg);
    },
  },
};

WebAssembly.instantiateStreaming(fetch("simple.wasm"), importObject).then(
  (obj) => obj.instance.exports.exported_func(),
);

Specifications

Specification
WebAssembly JavaScript Interface
# dom-instance-instance

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
Instance() constructor
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 57 (Release date: 2017-03-09)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 16 (Release date: 2017-10-17)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 52 (Release date: 2017-03-07)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 44 (Release date: 2017-03-21)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 11 (Release date: 2017-09-19)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 57 (Release date: 2017-03-16)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 52 (Release date: 2017-03-07)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 43 (Release date: 2017-09-27)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 11 (Release date: 2017-09-19)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 7 (Release date: 2018-03-16)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 57 (Release date: 2017-03-16)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 11 (Release date: 2017-09-19)
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 8 (Release date: 2017-05-30)
footnote Full support

Legend

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

Full support
Full support

See also