TheHTMLCanvasElement.getContext() method returns a drawing context on the canvas, ornull if the context identifier is not supported, or the canvas has already been set to a different context mode.

Later calls to this method on the same canvas element, with the samecontextType argument, will always return the same drawing context instance as was returned the first time the method was invoked. It is not possible to get a different drawing context object on a given canvas element.

Syntax

getContext(contextType)getContext(contextType, contextAttributes)

Parameters

contextType

A string containing the context identifier defining the drawing context associated to the canvas. Possible values are:

"2d"

Creates aCanvasRenderingContext2D object representing a two-dimensional rendering context.

"webgl" (or"experimental-webgl")

Creates aWebGLRenderingContext object representing a three-dimensional rendering context. This context is only available on browsers that implementWebGL version 1 (OpenGL ES 2.0).

"webgl2"

Creates aWebGL2RenderingContext object representing a three-dimensional rendering context. This context is only available on browsers that implementWebGL version 2 (OpenGL ES 3.0).

"webgpu"

Creates aGPUCanvasContext object representing a three-dimensional rendering context for WebGPU render pipelines. This context is only available on browsers that implementThe WebGPU API.

"bitmaprenderer"

Creates anImageBitmapRenderingContext which only provides functionality to replace the content of the canvas with a givenImageBitmap.

Note:The identifier"experimental-webgl" is usedin new implementations of WebGL. These implementations have either not reachedtest suite conformance, or the graphics drivers on the platform are not yetstable. TheKhronos Group certifies WebGLimplementations under certainconformance rules.

contextAttributesOptional

You can use several context attributes when creating your rendering context, for example:

js

const gl = canvas.getContext("webgl", {  antialias: false,  depth: false,});

2d context attributes:

alpha

A boolean value that indicates if the canvas contains an alpha channel. If set tofalse, the browser now knows that the backdrop is always opaque, which can speed up drawing of transparent content and images.

colorSpaceOptional

Specifies the color space of the rendering context. Possible values are:

• "srgb" selects thesRGB color space. This is the default value.
• "display-p3" selects thedisplay-p3 color space.

colorTypeOptional

Specifies the color type of the rendering context. Possible values are:

• "unorm8" sets the color channels to 8 bit unsigned values. This is the default value.
• "float16" sets the color channels to 16-bit floating-point values.

desynchronized

A boolean value that hints the user agent to reduce the latency by desynchronizing the canvas paint cycle from the event loop.

willReadFrequently

A boolean value that indicates whether or not a lot of read-back operations are planned. This will force the use of a software (instead of hardware accelerated) 2D canvas and can save memory when callinggetImageData() frequently.

WebGL context attributes:

alpha

A boolean value that indicates if the canvas contains an alpha buffer.

depth

A boolean value that indicates that the drawing buffer is requested to have a depth buffer of at least 16 bits.

stencil

A boolean value that indicates that the drawing buffer is requested to have a stencil buffer of at least 8 bits.

desynchronized

A boolean value that hints the user agent to reduce the latency by desynchronizing the canvas paint cycle from the event loop.

antialias

A boolean value that indicates whether or not to perform anti-aliasing if possible.

failIfMajorPerformanceCaveat

A boolean value that indicates if a context will be created if the system performance is low or if no hardware GPU is available.

powerPreference

A hint to the user agent indicating what configuration of GPU is suitable for the WebGL context. Possible values are:

"default"

Let the user agent decide which GPU configuration is most suitable. This is the default value.

"high-performance"

Prioritizes rendering performance over power consumption.

"low-power"

Prioritizes power saving over rendering performance.

premultipliedAlpha

A boolean value that indicates that the page compositor will assume the drawing buffer contains colors with pre-multiplied alpha.

preserveDrawingBuffer

If the value is true the buffers will not be cleared and will preserve their values until cleared or overwritten by the author.

xrCompatible

A boolean value that hints to the user agent to use a compatible graphics adapter for animmersive XR device. Setting this synchronous flag at context creation is discouraged; rather call the asynchronousWebGLRenderingContext.makeXRCompatible() method the moment you intend to start an XR session.

Note:The WebGPU specification does not define any specific context attributes forgetContext(). Instead, it provides configuration options via theGPUCanvasContext.configure() method.

Return value

A rendering context which is either a

• CanvasRenderingContext2D for"2d",
• WebGLRenderingContext for"webgl" and"experimental-webgl",
• WebGL2RenderingContext for"webgl2",
• GPUCanvasContext for"webgpu",
• ImageBitmapRenderingContext for"bitmaprenderer".

If the context identifier is not supported, or the canvas has already been set to a different context mode,null is returned.

Exceptions

InvalidStateErrorDOMException

Throws if the canvas has transferred its control to offscreen by callingHTMLCanvasElement.transferControlToOffscreen().

Examples

Given this<canvas> element:

<canvas width="300" height="300"></canvas>

You can get a2d context of the canvas with the following code:

const canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");const ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");console.log(ctx); // CanvasRenderingContext2D { /* … */ }

Now you have the2D rendering context for a canvas and you can draw within it.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• HTMLCanvasElement: Interface used to define theHTMLCanvasElement.getContext() method
• OffscreenCanvas.getContext()
• CanvasRenderingContext2D.getContextAttributes(),WebGLRenderingContext.getContextAttributes()
• CanvasRenderingContext2D,ImageBitmapRenderingContext,WebGLRenderingContext,WebGL2RenderingContext,GPUCanvasContext: Available rendering contexts
• DCI-P3 color space on Wikipedia
• sRGB color space on Wikipedia