Drawing an image from a data URL to a canvas

Question

Given a data URL, you can create an image (either on the page or purely in JS) by setting the src of the image to your data URL. For example:

var img = new Image;
img.src = strDataURI;

The drawImage() method of HTML5 Canvas Context lets you copy all or a portion of an image (or canvas, or video) onto a canvas.

You might use it like so:

var myCanvas = document.getElementById('my_canvas_id');
var ctx = myCanvas.getContext('2d');
var img = new Image;
img.onload = function(){
  ctx.drawImage(img,0,0); // Or at whatever offset you like
};
img.src = strDataURI;

Edit: I previously suggested in this space that it might not be necessary to use the onload handler when a data URI is involved. Based on experimental tests from this question, it is not safe to do so. The above sequence—create the image, set the onload to use the new image, and then set the src—is necessary for some browsers to surely use the results.

function drawDataURIOnCanvas(strDataURI, canvas) {
    "use strict";
    var img = new window.Image();
    img.addEventListener("load", function () {
        canvas.getContext("2d").drawImage(img, 0, 0);
    });
    img.setAttribute("src", strDataURI);
}

Just to add to the other answers: In case you don't like the onload callback approach, you can "promisify" it like so:

let url = "data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODl...";
let img = new Image();
await new Promise(r => img.onload=r, img.src=url);
// now do something with img

Perhaps this fiddle would help ThumbGen - jsFiddle It uses File API and Canvas to dynamically generate thumbnails of images.

(function (doc) {
    var oError = null;
    var oFileIn = doc.getElementById('fileIn');
    var oFileReader = new FileReader();
    var oImage = new Image();
    oFileIn.addEventListener('change', function () {
        var oFile = this.files[0];
        var oLogInfo = doc.getElementById('logInfo');
        var rFltr = /^(?:image\/bmp|image\/cis\-cod|image\/gif|image\/ief|image\/jpeg|image\/jpeg|image\/jpeg|image\/pipeg|image\/png|image\/svg\+xml|image\/tiff|image\/x\-cmu\-raster|image\/x\-cmx|image\/x\-icon|image\/x\-portable\-anymap|image\/x\-portable\-bitmap|image\/x\-portable\-graymap|image\/x\-portable\-pixmap|image\/x\-rgb|image\/x\-xbitmap|image\/x\-xpixmap|image\/x\-xwindowdump)$/i
        try {
            if (rFltr.test(oFile.type)) {
                oFileReader.readAsDataURL(oFile);
                oLogInfo.setAttribute('class', 'message info');
                throw 'Preview for ' + oFile.name;
            } else {
                oLogInfo.setAttribute('class', 'message error');
                throw oFile.name + ' is not a valid image';
            }
        } catch (err) {
            if (oError) {
                oLogInfo.removeChild(oError);
                oError = null;
                $('#logInfo').fadeOut();
                $('#imgThumb').fadeOut();
            }
            oError = doc.createTextNode(err);
            oLogInfo.appendChild(oError);
            $('#logInfo').fadeIn();
        }
    }, false);
    oFileReader.addEventListener('load', function (e) {
        oImage.src = e.target.result;
    }, false);
    oImage.addEventListener('load', function () {
        if (oCanvas) {
            oCanvas = null;
            oContext = null;
            $('#imgThumb').fadeOut();
        }
        var oCanvas = doc.getElementById('imgThumb');
        var oContext = oCanvas.getContext('2d');
        var nWidth = (this.width > 500) ? this.width / 4 : this.width;
        var nHeight = (this.height > 500) ? this.height / 4 : this.height;
        oCanvas.setAttribute('width', nWidth);
        oCanvas.setAttribute('height', nHeight);
        oContext.drawImage(this, 0, 0, nWidth, nHeight);
        $('#imgThumb').fadeIn();
    }, false);
})(document);

You might wanna clear the old Image before setting a new Image.

You also need to update the Canvas size for a new Image.

This is how I am doing in my project:

    // on image load update Canvas Image 
    this.image.onload = () => {

      // Clear Old Image and Reset Bounds
      canvasContext.clearRect(0, 0, this.canvas.width, this.canvas.height);
      this.canvas.height = this.image.height;
      this.canvas.width = this.image.width;

      // Redraw Image
      canvasContext.drawImage(
        this.image,
        0,
        0,
        this.image.width,
        this.image.height
      );
    };