remotion-dev/remotion · critical · Error

Noise displacement program link failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}

Error message

Noise displacement program link failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}

What it means

The noiseDisplacement effect's compiled vertex and fragment shaders failed to link into a complete WebGL program. gl.getProgramParameter(program, gl.LINK_STATUS) returned false and the linker log is included. This indicates a mismatch between shader stages or a driver-specific linker bug — the shader pair is static and library-controlled.

Source

Thrown at packages/effects/src/noise-displacement.ts:437

};

const linkProgram = (
	gl: WebGL2RenderingContext,
	vs: WebGLShader,
	fs: WebGLShader,
): WebGLProgram => {
	const program = gl.createProgram();
	if (!program) {
		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(
			`Noise displacement program link failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}`,
		);
	}

	return program;
};

const setupNoiseDisplacement = (
	target: HTMLCanvasElement,
): NoiseDisplacementState => {
	const gl = target.getContext('webgl2', {
		premultipliedAlpha: true,
		alpha: true,
		preserveDrawingBuffer: true,
	});
	if (!gl) {
		throw createWebGL2ContextError('noise displacement effect');
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

1. Report the linker log and GPU/driver info to the Remotion team — the shaders are library-controlled.
2. Update GPU drivers.
3. Test on SwiftShader or a different GPU to isolate driver-specific linker failures.
4. Ensure CI headless browser has adequate WebGL2 linking support.

// Program link failures are driver/library bugs — catch and report
try {
  // render with noiseDisplacement effect
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.startsWith('Noise displacement program link failed')) {
    console.error('Noise displacement program link failed:', e.message);
    // Fallback: render without the effect
  } else {
    throw e;
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: During setupNoiseDisplacement, linkProgram attaches both compiled shaders, calls gl.linkProgram, and LINK_STATUS is false. The fragment shader uses many uniforms (12+) and an int loop bound, which some drivers handle incorrectly during linking.

Common situations: GPU driver linker bugs; exceeding driver-specific uniform or varying limits; mismatched varying declarations on certain drivers; software rasterizers with incomplete linkers. Rarely caused by user input.

Related errors

• Noise displacement shader compile failed: ${log ?? '(no log)
• Shader compile failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}
• Program link failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}
• Failed to create WebGL shader
• Checkerboard shader compile failed: ${log ?? '(no log)'}

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c9d23c11ec2f566d. Report an issue: GitHub.