remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

Failed to acquire 2D context for color parsing

Error message

Failed to acquire 2D context for color parsing

What it means

Thrown in setup() of the halftone effect when a freshly created 1x1 helper canvas returns null from getContext('2d', {willReadFrequently: true}). The effect uses this throwaway 2D canvas solely to rasterise a CSS color string into RGBA bytes it uploads as the dot color. A null 2D context on a brand-new canvas is impossible in a normal browser and points at a rendering environment with 2D canvas disabled or unavailable.

Source

Thrown at packages/effects/src/halftone.ts:471

		gl.bindVertexArray(null);

		const texture = gl.createTexture();
		if (!texture) {
			throw new Error('Failed to create WebGL texture');
		}

		gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, texture);
		gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_WRAP_S, gl.CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
		gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_WRAP_T, gl.CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
		gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, null);

		const colorCanvas = document.createElement('canvas');
		colorCanvas.width = 1;
		colorCanvas.height = 1;
		const colorCtx = colorCanvas.getContext('2d', {willReadFrequently: true});
		if (!colorCtx) {
			throw new Error('Failed to acquire 2D context for color parsing');
		}

		return {
			gl,
			program,
			vao,
			vbo,
			texture,
			uSource: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uSource'),
			uResolution: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uResolution'),
			uDotSize: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uDotSize'),
			uDotSpacing: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uDotSpacing'),
			uRotation: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uRotation'),
			uOffset: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uOffset'),
			uColor: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uColor'),
			uShape: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uShape'),
			uShadeOutside: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uShadeOutside'),
			uUseSourceColor: gl.getUniformLocation(program, 'uUseSourceColor'),

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Remove any --disable-2d-canvas (or equivalent) flag from the render browser launch arguments.
2. Use the Remotion-bundled headless shell, which enables both 2D and WebGL canvas.
3. Render on a host whose browser provides a standard canvas implementation.

function environmentSupports2dCanvas(): boolean {
  const c = document.createElement('canvas');
  c.width = 1; c.height = 1;
  return c.getContext('2d', { willReadFrequently: true }) !== null;
}

try {
  // ...use halftone()
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && /Failed to acquire 2D context for color parsing/.test(e.message)) {
    // the render browser has 2D canvas disabled; switch browsers
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running in a Chromium launched with --disable-2d-canvas; a stripped-down headless shell that supports WebGL2 but not 2D canvas; a non-browser runtime with a partial canvas polyfill.

Common situations: Custom headless Chromium with aggressive disabling flags; an exotic embedder; a broken Chromium for Testing build.

Related errors

• Failed to acquire 2D context for color parsing
• Failed to create WebGL vertex array
• Failed to create WebGL shader
• Failed to create WebGL shader
• Failed to create WebGL shader

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5de20ba3e84bfd17. Report an issue: GitHub.