remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

Failed to create WebGL shader

Error message

Failed to create WebGL shader

What it means

Thrown by the evolve effect's compileShader() when gl.createShader(type) returns null. The WebGL2 context was acquired (createWebGL2ContextError would have thrown earlier in setup), so a null shader object means the driver refused to allocate one, per spec indicating a lost context or resource exhaustion.

Source

Thrown at packages/effects/src/evolve.ts:198

	return 1.0 - smoothstep(p, min(p + f, 1.0), t);
}

void main() {
	vec4 source = texture(uSource, vUv);
	float t = getT(vUv);
	float mask = maskValue(t, uProgress, uFeather);
	fragColor = vec4(source.rgb * mask, source.a * mask);
}
`;

const compileShader = (
	gl: WebGL2RenderingContext,
	type: number,
	source: string,
): WebGLShader => {
	const shader = gl.createShader(type);
	if (!shader) {
		throw new Error('Failed to create WebGL shader');
	}

	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(`Evolve shader compile failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}`);
	}

	return shader;
};

const linkProgram = (
	gl: WebGL2RenderingContext,
	vs: WebGLShader,
	fs: WebGLShader,
): WebGLProgram => {

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Render with a software WebGL backend: `npx remotion render <comp> --gl=swiftshader`.
2. Enable hardware acceleration for local preview, or preview on a machine with a working GPU.
3. Lower render concurrency to reduce simultaneous WebGL context load.
4. Update the Chromium build / GPU driver.

async function safeRender(opts) {
  try {
    return await renderMedia(opts);
  } catch (err) {
    if (/Failed to create WebGL shader/.test(String(err?.message ?? ''))) {
      return await renderMedia({...opts, gl: 'swiftshader'});
    }
    throw err;
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Rendering or previewing evolve() on a Chrome GPU process that is unavailable, has crashed, or has exhausted its shader-object budget during the evolve effect setup.

Common situations: Headless/CI Chrome with no GPU, hardware acceleration disabled, many concurrent GPU-effect renders exhausting WebGL objects, or a driver reset mid-render.

Related errors

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

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ee085dd531aec68e. Report an issue: GitHub.