Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.
The WebSocket API makes it possible to open a two-way interactive communication session between the user's browser and a server. With this API, you can send messages to a server and receive responses without having to poll the server for a reply.
The WebSocket API provides two alternative mechanisms for creating and using web socket connections: the WebSocket
interface and the WebSocketStream
interface.
WebSocket
interface is stable and has good browser and server support. However it doesn't support backpressure. As a result, when messages arrive faster than the application can process them it will either fill up the device's memory by buffering those messages, become unresponsive due to 100% CPU usage, or both.WebSocketStream
interface is a Promise
-based alternative to WebSocket
. It uses the Streams API to handle receiving and sending messages, meaning that socket connections can take advantage of stream backpressure automatically, regulating the speed of reading or writing to avoid bottlenecks in the application. However, WebSocketStream
is non-standard and currently only supported in one rendering engine.Additionally, the WebTransport API is expected to replace the WebSocket API for many applications. WebTransport is a versatile, low-level API that provides backpressure and many other features not supported by either WebSocket
or WebSocketStream
, such as unidirectional streams, out-of-order delivery, and unreliable data transmission via datagrams. WebTransport is more complex to use than WebSockets and its cross-browser support is not as wide, but it enables the implementation of sophisticated solutions. If standard WebSocket connections are a good fit for your use case and you need wide browser compatibility, you should employ the WebSockets API to get up and running quickly. However, if your application requires a non-standard custom solution, then you should use the WebTransport API.
Note: While a WebSocket connection is functionally somewhat similar to standard Unix-style sockets, they are not related.
InterfacesWebSocket
The primary interface for connecting to a WebSocket server and then sending and receiving data on the connection.
WebSocketStream
Non-standard
Promise-based interface for connecting to a WebSocket server; uses streams to send and receive data on the connection.
CloseEvent
The event sent by the WebSocket object when the connection closes.
MessageEvent
The event sent by the WebSocket object when a message is received from the server.
The HTTP headers are used in the WebSocket handshake:
Sec-WebSocket-Key
An HTTP request header that contains a nonce from the client. This is used in the WebSocket opening handshake to verify that the client explicitly intends to open a WebSocket. It is added automatically by the browser.
Sec-WebSocket-Accept
An HTTP response header used in the WebSocket opening handshake to indicate that the server is willing to upgrade to a WebSocket connection. The value in the directive is calculated from the value of Sec-WebSocket-Key
in the corresponding request.
Sec-WebSocket-Version
An HTTP header that in requests indicates the version of the WebSocket protocol understood by the client. In responses, it is sent only if the requested protocol version is not supported by the server, and lists the versions that the server supports.
Sec-WebSocket-Protocol
An HTTP header that in requests indicates the sub-protocols supported by the client in preferred order. In responses, it indicates the sub-protocol selected by the server from the client's preferences.
Sec-WebSocket-Extensions
An HTTP header that in requests indicates the WebSocket extensions supported by the client in preferred order. In responses, it indicates the extension selected by the server from the client's preferences.
wss://
or ws://
and normal sockets over ssl://
, tcp://
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