TransformStream

Baseline Widely available *

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨June 2022⁩.

* Some parts of this feature may have varying levels of support.

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Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The TransformStream interface of the Streams API represents a concrete implementation of the pipe chain transform stream concept.

It may be passed to the ReadableStream.pipeThrough() method in order to transform a stream of data from one format into another. For example, it might be used to decode (or encode) video frames, decompress data, or convert the stream from XML to JSON.

A transformation algorithm may be provided as an optional argument to the object constructor. If not supplied, data is not modified when piped through the stream.

TransformStream is a transferable object.

Constructor

TransformStream()

Creates and returns a transform stream object, optionally specifying a transformation object and queuing strategies for the streams.

Instance properties

TransformStream.readable Read only

The readable end of a TransformStream.

TransformStream.writable Read only

The writable end of a TransformStream.

Instance methods

None

Examples

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Anything-to-uint8array stream

In the following example, a transform stream passes through all chunks it receives as Uint8Array values.

js
const transformContent = {   start() {}, // required.   async transform(chunk, controller) {     chunk = await chunk;     switch (typeof chunk) {       case "object":         // just say the stream is done I guess         if (chunk === null) {           controller.terminate();         } else if (ArrayBuffer.isView(chunk)) {           controller.enqueue(             new Uint8Array(chunk.buffer, chunk.byteOffset, chunk.byteLength),           );         } else if (           Array.isArray(chunk) &&           chunk.every((value) => typeof value === "number")         ) {           controller.enqueue(new Uint8Array(chunk));         } else if (           typeof chunk.valueOf === "function" &&           chunk.valueOf() !== chunk         ) {           this.transform(chunk.valueOf(), controller); // hack         } else if ("toJSON" in chunk) {           this.transform(JSON.stringify(chunk), controller);         }         break;       case "symbol":         controller.error("Cannot send a symbol as a chunk part");         break;       case "undefined":         controller.error("Cannot send undefined as a chunk part");         break;       default:         controller.enqueue(this.textencoder.encode(String(chunk)));         break;     }   },   flush() {     /* do any destructor work here */   }, };  class AnyToU8Stream extends TransformStream {   constructor() {     super({ ...transformContent, textencoder: new TextEncoder() });   } } 

Chaining multiple ReadableStreams together

This is a useful one, where multiple streams can be conjoined. Examples include building a PWA with progressive loading and progressive streaming.

js
let responses = [   /* conjoined response tree */ ]; let { readable, writable } = new TransformStream();  responses.reduce(   (a, res, i, arr) =>     a.then(() => res.pipeTo(writable, { preventClose: i + 1 !== arr.length })),   Promise.resolve(), ); 

Note that this is not resilient to other influences.

Specifications

Specification
Streams>
# ts-class>

Browser compatibility

See also