Web/API/RTCDataChannel/binaryType

This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

Draft This page is not complete.

The property binaryType on the RTCDataChannel interface is a DOMString which specifies the type of JavaScript object which should be used to represent binary data received on the RTCDataChannel. Values allowed by the WebSocket.binaryType property are also permitted here: "blob" if Blob objects are being used or "arraybuffer" if ArrayBuffer objects are being used. The default is "blob".

When a binary message is received on the data channel, the resulting message event's MessageEvent.data property is an object of the type specified by the binaryType.

Syntax

var type = aDataChannel.binaryType;

aDataChannel.binaryType = type;

Value

A DOMString that can have one of these values:

"blob": Received binary messages' contents will be contained in Blob objects.
"arraybuffer": Received binary messages' contents will be contained in ArrayBuffer objects.

Example

This code configures a data channel to receive binary data in ArrayBuffer objects, and establishes a listener for message events which constructs a string representing the received data as a list of hexadecimal byte values.

var dc = peerConnection.createDataChannel("Binary");
dc.binaryType = "arraybuffer";

dc.onmessage = function(event) {
  let byteArray = new Uint8Array(event.data);
  let hexString = "";

  byteArray.forEach(function(byte) {
    hexString += byte.toString(16) + " ";
  });
};

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
WebRTC 1.0: Real-time Communication Between BrowsersThe definition of 'RTCDataChannel.binaryType' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Initial specification.

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
`binaryType` Experimental'	Chrome Full support Yes	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 18	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support 4.4	Chrome Android Full support 29	Firefox Android Full support 18	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 2.0

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.