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ArrayBuffer

The ArrayBuffer object is used to represent a generic, fixed-length raw binary data buffer.

It is an array of bytes, often referred to in other languages as a "byte array". You cannot directly manipulate the contents of an ArrayBuffer; instead, you create one of the typed array objects or a DataView object which represents the buffer in a specific format, and use that to read and write the contents of the buffer.

The ArrayBuffer() constructor creates a new ArrayBuffer of the given length in bytes. You can also get an array buffer from existing data, for example, from a Base64 string or from a local file.

ArrayBuffer is a transferable object.

Constructor

ArrayBuffer(): Creates a new ArrayBuffer object.

Static properties

get ArrayBuffer[@@species]: The constructor function that is used to create derived objects.

Static methods

ArrayBuffer.isView(): Returns true if arg is one of the ArrayBuffer views, such as typed array objects or a DataView. Returns false otherwise.

Instance properties

ArrayBuffer.prototype.byteLength: The read-only size, in bytes, of the ArrayBuffer. This is established when the array is constructed and cannot be changed.

Instance methods

ArrayBuffer.prototype.slice(): Returns a new ArrayBuffer whose contents are a copy of this ArrayBuffer's bytes from begin (inclusive) up to end (exclusive). If either begin or end is negative, it refers to an index from the end of the array, as opposed to from the beginning.

Examples

Creating an ArrayBuffer

In this example, we create a 8-byte buffer with a Int32Array view referring to the buffer:

const buffer = new ArrayBuffer(8);
const view = new Int32Array(buffer);

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Language Specification # sec-arraybuffer-objects

Browser compatibility

	Desktop						Mobile						Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	WebView Android	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	Deno	Node.js
`@@species`	51	13	48	No	38	10	51	51	48	41	10	5.0	1.0	6.5.0 6.0.0
`ArrayBuffer`	7	12	4	10	11.6	5.1	4	18	4	12	4.2	1.0	1.0	0.10.0
`ArrayBuffer`	7	12	4	10	11.6	5.1	4	18	4	12	4.2	1.0	1.0	0.10.0
`byteLength`	7	12	4	10	11.6	5.1	4	18	4	12	4.2	1.0	1.0	0.10.0
`isView`	32	12	29	11	19	7	4.4.3	32	29	19	7	2.0	1.0	4.0.0
`slice`	17	12	12 The non-standard `ArrayBuffer.slice()` method has been removed in Firefox 53 (but the standardized version `ArrayBuffer.prototype.slice()` is kept.	11	12.1	6	4.4	18	14 The non-standard `ArrayBuffer.slice()` method has been removed in Firefox 53 (but the standardized version `ArrayBuffer.prototype.slice()` is kept.	12.1	6	1.0	1.0	0.12.0