Web/API/EXT float blend

The WebGL API's EXT_float_blend extension allows blending and draw buffers with 32-bit floating-point components.

WebGL extensions are available using the WebGLRenderingContext.getExtension() method. For more information, see also Using Extensions in the WebGL tutorial.

Availability: This extension is available to both, WebGL1 and WebGL2 contexts. However, to use it, you need to enable the use of 32-bit floating-point draw buffers by enabling the extension WEBGL_color_buffer_float (for WebGL1) or EXT_color_buffer_float (for WebGL2). Doing so automatically enables EXT_float_blend as well.

With this extension enabled, calling drawArrays() or drawElements() with blending enabled and a draw buffer with 32-bit floating-point components will no longer result in an INVALID_OPERATION error.

Usage notes

On devices that support the EXT_float_blend extension, it is automatically, implicitly, enabled when any one or more of EXT_color_buffer_float, OES_texture_float, or WEBGL_color_buffer_float are enabled. This ensures that content written before EXT_float_blend was exposed by WebGL will function as expected.

Examples

const gl = canvas.getContext('webgl2');

// enable necessary extensions
gl.getExtension('EXT_color_buffer_float');
gl.getExtension('EXT_float_blend');

const tex = gl.createTexture();
gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, tex);

// use floating point format
gl.texImage2D(gl.TEXTURE_2D, 0, gl.RGBA32F, 1, 1, 0, gl.RGBA, gl.FLOAT, null);

const fb = gl.createFramebuffer();
gl.bindFramebuffer(gl.FRAMEBUFFER, fb);
gl.framebufferTexture2D(gl.FRAMEBUFFER, gl.COLOR_ATTACHMENT0, gl.TEXTURE_2D, tex, 0);

// enable blending
gl.enable(gl.BLEND);

gl.drawArrays(gl.POINTS, 0, 1);
// won't throw gl.INVALID_OPERATION with the extension enabled

Specifications

Specification	Status
EXT_float_blend	Draft

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`EXT_float_blend` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 75	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 67	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 75 Notes' Full support 75 Notes' Notes' Until Chrome 77, this extension was unavailable on several Android devices powered by GLES 3.2. See bug 964208.	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.