Image Generation Libraries for Web Development Comparison
html2canvas vs html-to-image vs dom-to-image
1 Year
html2canvashtml-to-imagedom-to-imageSimilar Packages:
What's Image Generation Libraries for Web Development?

Image generation libraries are essential tools in web development that allow developers to capture and convert HTML elements or entire web pages into images. These libraries provide various functionalities, including customization options, support for different image formats, and the ability to handle complex DOM structures. They are particularly useful for creating visual representations of web content, such as charts, reports, and user-generated content, enhancing user experience and interactivity on web applications.

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html2canvas2,359,26730,7573.38 MB1,016-MIT
html-to-image574,5745,909299 kB1472 years agoMIT
dom-to-image175,33210,438-3277 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: html2canvas vs html-to-image vs dom-to-image

Output Formats

  • html2canvas:

    html2canvas generates PNG images by default, capturing the visual representation of the DOM. It does not support JPEG or other formats directly, which may limit flexibility for some use cases.

  • html-to-image:

    html-to-image supports multiple output formats, including PNG and JPEG, providing developers with options to choose the best format for their needs. This versatility is beneficial for applications that require different image types for various use cases.

  • dom-to-image:

    dom-to-image primarily generates PNG images, making it suitable for scenarios where high-quality raster images are needed. It also supports JPEG format, allowing for some flexibility in image quality and file size.

Complexity Handling

  • html2canvas:

    html2canvas is capable of capturing complex DOM structures, including nested elements and styles. It renders the entire visual representation of a web page, making it suitable for applications that need to capture comprehensive screenshots.

  • html-to-image:

    html-to-image excels at handling complex HTML and SVG elements, making it a good choice for applications that require high fidelity in rendering intricate graphics or charts. It can effectively manage various styles and attributes, ensuring accurate representation.

  • dom-to-image:

    dom-to-image is designed to handle simple to moderately complex DOM structures efficiently. It may struggle with very complex layouts or elements with heavy styling, which could lead to unexpected results in the generated images.

Customization Options

  • html2canvas:

    html2canvas has limited customization options compared to others, primarily focusing on capturing the visual state of the DOM. While it captures styles effectively, it does not offer extensive options for modifying the output image.

  • html-to-image:

    html-to-image provides a range of customization options, including the ability to specify image dimensions and handle different types of content. This flexibility allows developers to tailor the output to their specific requirements.

  • dom-to-image:

    dom-to-image offers basic customization options, such as setting background colors and image quality. However, it may lack advanced features for detailed customization of the output image.

Performance

  • html2canvas:

    html2canvas can experience performance issues with large or complex pages due to its comprehensive rendering process. It may require optimizations, such as limiting the area to capture or reducing the number of elements, to improve performance.

  • html-to-image:

    html-to-image generally performs efficiently, even with complex elements. Its ability to handle SVG and HTML content allows it to generate images quickly without significant performance hits.

  • dom-to-image:

    dom-to-image is lightweight and performs well for small to medium-sized DOM elements. However, performance may degrade with larger or more complex structures, leading to longer processing times.

Use Cases

  • html2canvas:

    html2canvas is perfect for taking screenshots of entire web pages or specific sections, making it useful for applications that require visual documentation or sharing of web content.

  • html-to-image:

    html-to-image is best for applications that need to generate images from a variety of content types, including charts and SVG graphics, providing a versatile solution for diverse use cases.

  • dom-to-image:

    dom-to-image is ideal for generating images from specific DOM elements, such as charts or user interfaces, making it suitable for applications that require quick image generation without extensive overhead.

How to Choose: html2canvas vs html-to-image vs dom-to-image
  • html2canvas:

    Select html2canvas if you need a robust solution that captures the visual representation of a web page or part of it, including styles and images. It is particularly useful for taking screenshots of web applications and supports a wide range of rendering options.

  • html-to-image:

    Opt for html-to-image if you require a more versatile library that can handle both HTML and SVG elements, providing better support for complex graphics. It is ideal for applications that need to generate images from various types of content, including charts and vector graphics.

  • dom-to-image:

    Choose dom-to-image if you need a lightweight solution that focuses on converting DOM elements to images with simple configurations. It is particularly effective for generating PNG images and supports features like background color and image quality settings.

README for html2canvas

html2canvas

Homepage | Downloads | Questions

Gitter CI NPM Downloads NPM Version

JavaScript HTML renderer

The script allows you to take "screenshots" of webpages or parts of it, directly on the users browser. The screenshot is based on the DOM and as such may not be 100% accurate to the real representation as it does not make an actual screenshot, but builds the screenshot based on the information available on the page.

How does it work?

The script renders the current page as a canvas image, by reading the DOM and the different styles applied to the elements.

It does not require any rendering from the server, as the whole image is created on the client's browser. However, as it is heavily dependent on the browser, this library is not suitable to be used in nodejs. It doesn't magically circumvent any browser content policy restrictions either, so rendering cross-origin content will require a proxy to get the content to the same origin.

The script is still in a very experimental state, so I don't recommend using it in a production environment nor start building applications with it yet, as there will be still major changes made.

Browser compatibility

The library should work fine on the following browsers (with Promise polyfill):

  • Firefox 3.5+
  • Google Chrome
  • Opera 12+
  • IE9+
  • Safari 6+

As each CSS property needs to be manually built to be supported, there are a number of properties that are not yet supported.

Usage

The html2canvas library utilizes Promises and expects them to be available in the global context. If you wish to support older browsers that do not natively support Promises, please include a polyfill such as es6-promise before including html2canvas.

To render an element with html2canvas, simply call: html2canvas(element[, options]);

The function returns a Promise containing the <canvas> element. Simply add a promise fulfillment handler to the promise using then:

html2canvas(document.body).then(function(canvas) {
    document.body.appendChild(canvas);
});

Building

You can download ready builds here.

Clone git repository:

$ git clone git://github.com/niklasvh/html2canvas.git

Install dependencies:

$ npm install

Build browser bundle

$ npm run build

Examples

For more information and examples, please visit the homepage or try the test console.

Contributing

If you wish to contribute to the project, please send the pull requests to the develop branch. Before submitting any changes, try and test that the changes work with all the support browsers. If some CSS property isn't supported or is incomplete, please create appropriate tests for it as well before submitting any code changes.