CanvasRenderingContext2D.globalCompositeOperation

The CanvasRenderingContext2D.globalCompositeOperation property of the Canvas 2D API sets the type of compositing operation to apply when drawing new shapes, where type is a string identifying which of the compositing or blending mode operations to use.

See also the chapter Compositing in the Canvas Tutorial.

Syntax

ctx.globalCompositeOperation = type;

Types

Examples

Using the globalCompositeOperation property

This is just a simple code snippet using the globalCompositeOperation property to draw two rectangles that exclude themselves where they overlap.

HTML

<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>

JavaScript

var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");

ctx.globalCompositeOperation = "xor";

ctx.fillStyle = "blue";
ctx.fillRect(10, 10, 100, 100);

ctx.fillStyle = "red";
ctx.fillRect(50, 50, 100, 100);

Edit the code below and see your changes update live in the canvas:

<canvas id="canvas" width="400" height="200" class="playable-canvas"></canvas>
<div class="playable-buttons">
  <input id="edit" type="button" value="Edit" />
  <input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" />
</div>
<textarea id="code" class="playable-code" style="height:120px;">
ctx.globalCompositeOperation = "xor";

ctx.fillStyle = "blue";
ctx.fillRect(10, 10, 100, 100);

ctx.fillStyle = "red";
ctx.fillRect(50, 50, 100, 100);</textarea>

var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
var textarea = document.getElementById("code");
var reset = document.getElementById("reset");
var edit = document.getElementById("edit");
var code = textarea.value;

function drawCanvas() {
  ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
  eval(textarea.value);
}

reset.addEventListener("click", function() {
  textarea.value = code;
  drawCanvas();
});

edit.addEventListener("click", function() {
  textarea.focus();
})

textarea.addEventListener("input", drawCanvas);
window.addEventListener("load", drawCanvas);

Specifications

Browser compatibility

WebKit/Blink-specific notes

• In WebKit- and Blink-based Browsers, a non-standard and deprecated method ctx.setCompositeOperation() is implemented besides this property.
• Support for "plus-darker" and "darker" were removed in Chrome 48. Developers looking a replacement should use "darken".

Gecko-specific notes

• An early Canvas specification draft specified the value "darker". However, Firefox removed support for "darker" in version 4 (bug 571532). See also this blog post that suggests to use the difference value to achieve a similar affect to "darker".

See also

• The interface defining it, CanvasRenderingContext2D
• CanvasRenderingContext2D.globalAlpha