Web/API/WebGLRenderingContext/activeTexture

The WebGLRenderingContext.activeTexture() method of the WebGL API specifies which texture unit to make active.

Syntax

void gl.activeTexture(texture);

Parameters

texture: The texture unit to make active. The value is a gl.TEXTUREI where I is within the range from 0 to gl.MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS - 1.

Return value

None.

Exceptions

If texture is not one of gl.TEXTUREI, where I is within the range from 0 to gl.MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS - 1, a gl.INVALID_ENUM error is thrown.

Examples

The following call selects gl.TEXTURE1 as the current texture. Subsequent calls that modify the texture state will affect this texture.

gl.activeTexture(gl.TEXTURE1);

The number of texture units is implementation dependent, you can get this number with the help of the MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS constant. It is, per specification, at least 8.

gl.getParameter(gl.MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS);

To get the active texture, query the ACTIVE_TEXTURE constant.

gl.activeTexture(gl.TEXTURE0);
gl.getParameter(gl.ACTIVE_TEXTURE);
// returns "33984" (0x84C0, gl.TEXTURE0 enum value)

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
WebGL 1.0The definition of 'activeTexture' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.
OpenGL ES 2.0The definition of 'glActiveTexture' in that specification.	Standard	Man page of the 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
`activeTexture`	Chrome Full support 9	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 4	IE Full support 11	Opera Full support 12	Safari Full support 5.1	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support 25	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support 12	Safari iOS Full support 8	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5

Legend

Full support: Full support