Web/API/WebGL2RenderingContext/drawElementsInstanced

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

The WebGL2RenderingContext.drawElementsInstanced() method of the WebGL 2 API renders primitives from array data like the gl.drawElements() method. In addition, it can execute multiple instances of a set of elements.

Note: When using WebGL 1, the ANGLE_instanced_arrays extension can provide this method, too.

Syntax

void gl.drawElementsInstanced(mode, count, type, offset, instanceCount);

Parameters

mode: A GLenum specifying the type primitive to render. Possible values are:

gl.POINTS

Draws a single dot.
gl.LINE_STRIP: Draws a straight line to the next vertex.
gl.LINE_LOOP: Draws a straight line to the next vertex, and connects the last vertex back to the first.
gl.LINES: Draws a line between a pair of vertices.
gl.TRIANGLE_STRIP
gl.TRIANGLE_FAN
gl.TRIANGLES: Draws a triangle for a group of three vertices.

count: A GLsizei specifying the number of elements to be rendered.
type: A GLenum specifying the type of the values in the element array buffer. Possible values are:

gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT When using the OES_element_index_uint extension:

gl.UNSIGNED_INT

offset: A GLintptr specifying an offset in the element array buffer. Must be a valid multiple of the size of the given type.
instanceCount: A GLsizei specifying the number of instances of the set of elements to execute.

Return value

None.

Exceptions

If mode is not one of the accepted values, a gl.INVALID_ENUM error is thrown.
If offset is a valid multiple of the size of the given type, a gl.INVALID_OPERATION error is thrown.
If count or instanceCount are negative, a gl.INVALID_VALUE error is thrown.

Examples

gl.drawElementsInstanced(gl.POINTS, 2, gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, 0, 4);

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
WebGL 2.0The definition of 'drawElementsInstanced' in that specification.	Editor's Draft	Initial definition for WebGL.
OpenGL ES 3.0The definition of 'glDrawElementsInstanced' in that specification.	Standard	Man page of the (similar) OpenGL API.

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table in 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
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`drawElementsInstanced`	Chrome Full support 56	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 51	IE No support No	Opera Full support 43	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 58	Chrome Android Full support 58	Firefox Android Full support 51	Opera Android Full support 43	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support