Basically I want to be able to perform effectively this same code:

const video = document.getElementById('video');
const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
const context = canvas.getContext('2d');

const draw = () => {
  context.drawImage(video, 0, 0);
  requestAnimationFrame(draw);
}

video.onplay = () => {
  requestAnimationFrame(draw);
}

only using an offscreen canvas. I can send images over messages to the worker the offscreen canvas is on, but not video as it's directly tied to an HTMLElement. Is there currently a way to somehow still render video data or a MediaStream in an offscreen canvas?

Basically I want to be able to perform effectively this same code:

const video = document.getElementById('video');
const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
const context = canvas.getContext('2d');

const draw = () => {
  context.drawImage(video, 0, 0);
  requestAnimationFrame(draw);
}

video.onplay = () => {
  requestAnimationFrame(draw);
}

only using an offscreen canvas. I can send images over messages to the worker the offscreen canvas is on, but not video as it's directly tied to an HTMLElement. Is there currently a way to somehow still render video data or a MediaStream in an offscreen canvas?

• javascript
• canvas
• web-worker
• media-source
• mediastream

• 1 did you ever find a resolution to this? I have the same question – hoodsy Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 23:17

1 Answer 1

You can send frames of a video to an OffscreenCanvas in a Web Worker by modifying your script with the following changes:

const worker = new Worker('my-worker.js');
const video = document.getElementById('video');
const stream = video.captureStream();
const [track] = stream.getVideoTracks();
const imageCapture = new ImageCapture(track);
const canvas = document.getElementById('canvas');
const offscreen = canvas.transferControlToOffscreen();

worker.postMessage({ offscreen }, [offscreen]);

const draw = () => {
  imageCapture.grabFrame().then(imageBitmap => {
    worker.postMessage({ imageBitmap }, [imageBitmap]);
  });

  requestAnimationFrame(draw);
};

video.onplay = () => {
  requestAnimationFrame(draw);
};

my-worker.js

let canvas;
let context;

addEventListener('message', event => {
  if (event.data.offscreen) {
    canvas = event.data.offscreen;
    context = canvas.getContext('2d');
  } else if (event.data.imageBitmap && context) {
    context.drawImage(event.data.imageBitmap, 0, 0);
    // do something with frame
  }
});

References

• HTMLMediaElement.prototype.captureStream()
• MediaStream.prototype.getVideoTracks()
• new ImageCapture()
• ImageCapture.prototype.grabFrame()