The BroadcastChannel
interface represents a named channel that any browsing context of a given origin can subscribe to. It allows communication between different documents (in different windows, tabs, frames or iframes) of the same origin. Messages are broadcasted via a message
event fired at all BroadcastChannel
objects listening to the channel.
Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.
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Constructor
BroadcastChannel()
- Creates an object linking to the named channel.
Properties
This interface also inherits properties from its parent, EventTarget
.
BroadcastChannel.name
Read only
Returns a DOMString
, the name of the channel.
Event handlers
An EventHandler
property that specifies the function to execute when a message
event is fired on this object.
BroadcastChannel.onmessageerror
An EventHandler
called when a MessageEvent
of type MessageError
is fired—that is, when it receives a message that cannot be deserialized.
Methods
This interface also inherits methods from its parent, EventTarget
.
BroadcastChannel.postMessage()
- Sends the message, of any type of object, to each
BroadcastChannel
object listening to the same channel. BroadcastChannel.close()
- Closes the channel object, indicating it won't get any new messages, and allowing it to be, eventually, garbage collected.
Events
message
- Fired when when a message arrives on the channel. Also available via the
onmessage
property. messageerror
- Fired when a message arrives that can't be deserialized. Also available via the
onmessageerror
property.
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
HTML Living StandardThe definition of 'BroadcastChannel' in that specification. | Living Standard | Initial definition. |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Update compatibility data on GitHub
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BroadcastChannel
|
Chrome
Full support 54 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 38 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 41 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 54 |
Chrome Android
Full support 54 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 41 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 6.0 |
BroadcastChannel() constructor
|
Chrome
Full support 54 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 38 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 41 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 54 |
Chrome Android
Full support 54 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 41 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 6.0 |
close
|
Chrome
Full support 54 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 38 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 41 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 54 |
Chrome Android
Full support 54 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 41 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 6.0 |
message event
|
Chrome
Full support 54 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 38 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 41 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 54 |
Chrome Android
Full support 54 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 41 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 6.0 |
messageerror event
|
Chrome
Full support 60 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 57 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 47 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 60 |
Chrome Android
Full support 60 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 47 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 8.0 |
name
|
Chrome
Full support 54 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 38 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 41 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 54 |
Chrome Android
Full support 54 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 41 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 6.0 |
onmessage
|
Chrome
Full support 54 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 38 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 41 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 54 |
Chrome Android
Full support 54 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 41 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 6.0 |
onmessageerror
|
Chrome
Full support 60 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 57 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 47 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 60 |
Chrome Android
Full support 60 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 44 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 8.0 |
postMessage
|
Chrome
Full support 54 |
Edge
Full support ≤79 |
Firefox
Full support 38 |
IE
No support No |
Opera
Full support 41 |
Safari
No support No |
WebView Android
Full support 54 |
Chrome Android
Full support 54 |
Firefox Android
? |
Opera Android
Full support 41 |
Safari iOS
No support No |
Samsung Internet Android
Full support 6.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- Compatibility unknown
- Compatibility unknown
See also
- Another, more heavyweight, way of communicating between browser contexts:
ServiceWorker
. - Broadcast Channel API overview
BroadcastChannel by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.