remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

Failed to create levels shader program

Error message

Failed to create levels shader program

What it means

Thrown by `createProgram()` in the levels effect when `gl.createProgram()` returns `null`. Like other null-returning WebGL2 calls, this signals context loss or resource exhaustion at the program-object level, after both shaders have already compiled successfully.

Source

Thrown at packages/effects/src/levels.ts:180

	}

	gl.shaderSource(shader, source);
	gl.compileShader(shader);
	if (!gl.getShaderParameter(shader, gl.COMPILE_STATUS)) {
		const log = gl.getShaderInfoLog(shader);
		gl.deleteShader(shader);
		throw new Error(`Levels shader compile failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}`);
	}

	return shader;
};

const createProgram = (gl: WebGL2RenderingContext): WebGLProgram => {
	const vertexShader = compileShader(gl, gl.VERTEX_SHADER, VERTEX_SHADER);
	const fragmentShader = compileShader(gl, gl.FRAGMENT_SHADER, FRAGMENT_SHADER);
	const program = gl.createProgram();
	if (!program) {
		throw new Error('Failed to create levels shader program');
	}

	gl.attachShader(program, vertexShader);
	gl.attachShader(program, fragmentShader);
	gl.linkProgram(program);
	gl.deleteShader(vertexShader);
	gl.deleteShader(fragmentShader);

	if (!gl.getProgramParameter(program, gl.LINK_STATUS)) {
		const log = gl.getProgramInfoLog(program);
		gl.deleteProgram(program);
		throw new Error(`Levels shader link failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}`);
	}

	return program;
};

const createTexture = (gl: WebGL2RenderingContext): WebGLTexture => {

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Lower render concurrency (`--concurrency`) and the number of effects active per frame.
2. Handle `webglcontextlost` and retry the render after context restoration.
3. Restart the GPU process / Chrome to flush leaked GL objects.
4. Free other WebGL contexts in the same tab/process before rendering.

try {
  levels({...})(...);
} catch (err) {
  if (/Failed to create levels shader program/.test(String(err))) {
    console.warn('levels() GL program unavailable', err);
  } else {
    throw err;
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: WebGL2 context lost between shader compile and program creation; GPU/process memory exhausted by many simultaneous effects; an invalid context state.

Common situations: Highly concurrent renders; long-running Studio sessions; rendering on memory-constrained CI/Lambda instances with many GPU objects allocated.

Related errors

• Failed to create levels shader
• Failed to create levels texture
• Failed to create levels vertex array
• Failed to create levels vertex buffer
• Failed to create WebGL shader

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/12e3e6216a27e0de. Report an issue: GitHub.