remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

Failed to create WebGL texture

Error message

Failed to create WebGL texture

What it means

Thrown inside createRgbaTexture() in evolve.ts when gl.createTexture() returns null during setupEvolve(). A null return means the GL implementation could not allocate another texture object — typically because the context is lost or GPU texture memory/object pools are exhausted. No texture can be created, so evolve setup aborts.

Source

Thrown at packages/effects/src/evolve.ts:237

		throw new Error('Failed to create WebGL program');
	}

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

	return program;
};

const createRgbaTexture = (gl: WebGL2RenderingContext): WebGLTexture => {
	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_MIN_FILTER, gl.LINEAR);
	gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, gl.LINEAR);
	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);
	return texture;
};

const setupEvolve = (target: HTMLCanvasElement): EvolveState => {
	const gl = target.getContext('webgl2', {
		premultipliedAlpha: true,
		alpha: true,
		preserveDrawingBuffer: true,
	});

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Ensure effects are torn down: rely on Remotion's effect lifecycle so cleanup() runs (it calls gl.deleteTexture); avoid holding references to old effect states.
2. Render with --gl=angle (CLI) / chromiumOptions: { gl: 'angle' } (SSR) / Angle backend (Studio) for more reliable texture allocation under SwiftShader.
3. Reduce the count of concurrent evolve() instances in the composition and reuse identical param combinations so calculateKey collapses them onto one canvas.
4. Handle webglcontextlost on the canvas and trigger a context-restoration flow before retrying the render.
5. Move rendering to a host with more GPU memory, or run a software GL fallback consistently.

Example fix

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

// after (caller-side health check before evolve setup)
if (gl.isContextLost()) {
  // wait for webglcontextrestored before re-applying evolve()
  return;
}

// Health check before driving evolve on a canvas you control.
const canAllocateTexture = (gl: WebGL2RenderingContext): boolean => {
  if (gl.isContextLost()) return false;
  const probe = gl.createTexture();
  if (!probe) return false;
  gl.deleteTexture(probe);
  return true;
};

try {
  // declarative usage; for a custom canvas:
  // const state = setupEvolve(canvas);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message === 'Failed to create WebGL texture') {
    // likely context loss or exhaustion: free other effects, restore context, retry
    throw err;
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: evolve() effect setup runs after a webglcontextlost event (the spec forces createTexture to return null while lost), or when the page has exhausted the driver's texture-object limit by leaking textures across many effect canvases. The check is the bare `if (!texture)` at evolve.ts:236.

Common situations: Long-running Studio sessions where old effect canvases were not cleaned up (cleanup() not called); rendering many simultaneous evolve layers in one composition; headless render hosts with limited GPU memory; a prior crash of the GPU process leaving contexts in a lost state.

Related errors

• Failed to create WebGL vertex array
• Failed to create WebGL buffer
• Failed to create exposure texture
• Failed to create WebGL texture
• Evolve program link failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3b2348128a2a7cec. Report an issue: GitHub.