OES_texture_float extension

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The OES_texture_float extension is part of the WebGL API and exposes floating-point pixel types for textures.

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

Note: This extension is only available to WebGL1 contexts. In WebGL2, the functionality of this extension is available on the WebGL2 context by default.

Extended methods

This extension extends WebGLRenderingContext.texImage2D() and WebGLRenderingContext.texSubImage2D():

  • The type parameter now accepts gl.FLOAT.
  • The pixels parameter now accepts a Float32Array.

Limitation: Linear filtering

Linear filtering on floating-point textures is not allowed with this extension. If you set the magnification or minification filter in the WebGLRenderingContext.texParameter() method to one of gl.LINEAR, gl.LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST, gl.NEAREST_MIPMAP_LINEAR, or gl.LINEAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR, and use floating-point textures, the texture will be marked as incomplete.

To use linear filtering on floating-point textures, enable the OES_texture_float_linear extension in addition to this extension.

Floating-point color buffers

This extension implicitly enables the WEBGL_color_buffer_float extension (if supported), which allows rendering to 32-bit floating-point color buffers.

Examples

js
const ext = gl.getExtension("OES_texture_float");

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

gl.texImage2D(gl.TEXTURE_2D, 0, gl.RGBA, gl.RGBA, gl.FLOAT, image);

Specifications

Specification
WebGL OES_texture_float Khronos Ratified Extension Specification

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also