Build your WebGL application
To create a build for WebGL, go to File > Build Settings from Unity’s main menu. In the Platform list, select WebGL and then click Switch Platform.
When you have configured the Build Settings, choose one the following options:
- Build: Builds your application into a Player.
- Build and Run: Builds your application in a Player, and opens that Player on your target platform.
The Unity build system for WebGLA JavaScript API that renders 2D and 3D graphics in a web browser. The Unity WebGL build option allows Unity to publish content as JavaScript programs which use HTML5 technologies and the WebGL rendering API to run Unity content in a web browser. More info
See in Glossary supports the following settings:
| Setting | Function | |
|---|---|---|
| Texture CompressionA method of storing data that reduces the amount of storage space it requires. See Texture Compression, Animation Compression, Audio Compression, Build Compression. See in Glossary |
The texture compression3D Graphics hardware requires Textures to be compressed in specialized formats which are optimized for fast Texture sampling. More info See in Glossary format to use for the build. For more information, refer to WebGL texture compression. The available options are: |
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| Use Player Settings | This is the default selection. It uses the texture compression format you set in the Player settingsSettings that let you set various player-specific options for the final game built by Unity. More info See in Glossary window. |
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| ETC2 | Uses ETC2 format, which is widely supported on mobile devices. | |
| ASTC | Uses ASTC format, which is widely supported on mobile devices. | |
| DXT | Uses DXT format, which is widely supported on desktop devices. | |
| Development BuildA development build includes debug symbols and enables the Profiler. More info See in Glossary |
Enable this setting to include scripting debug symbols and the Profiler in your build. When you enable this, Unity sets the DEVELOPMENT_BUILD scripting define. Use this setting only when you want to test your application because development builds don’t minify content, they’re large to distribute. |
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| Code Optimization | Select the optimization mode to use for compiling the WebGL code. | |
| Shorter Build Time | This is the default setting. Select this option to generate WebGL code that takes the least amount of time to build. | |
| Runtime Speed | Select this option to generate WebGL code that’s optimized for runtime performance, at the expense of taking a longer time to build. | |
| Runtime Speed with LTO | This is the same as Runtime Speed, but with an additional Link Time Optimizations (LTO) stage (sometimes called Whole Program Optimization). Enable LTO when compiling Master shipping builds for deployment to end users. | |
| Disk Size | Select this option to favor optimizations that minimize build size, at the expense of taking a longer time to build. The recommended best practice is to select this option when targeting mobile web browsers, that may have limits on the size of WebAssembly files that can be loaded. Smaller disk sizes generally result in shorter page startup times. | |
| Disk Size with LTO | This is the same as Disk Size, but enables additional Link Time Optimizations (LTO) stage (sometimes called Whole Program Optimization). Select this option when compiling Master shipping builds for deployment to end users. | |
| Autoconnect Profiler | Typically, when enabled, this setting allows you to automatically connect the Unity Profiler to your build. However for WebGL, as you can’t connect the ProfilerA window that helps you to optimize your game. It shows how much time is spent in the various areas of your game. For example, it can report the percentage of time spent rendering, animating, or in your game logic. More info See in Glossary to a running build, use this option to connect the content to the Unity Editor instead. This is because the Profiler connection is handled using WebSockets on WebGL, but a web browser only allows outgoing connections from the content. For this setting to be available, you must enable the Development Build option. |
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| Deep Profiling | Enable this setting to activate Deep Profiling in the Profiler. This makes the Profiler instrument every function call in your application and returns more detailed profiling data. When you enable Deep Profiling Support, it might slow down script execution. This option is only available if you enable the Development Build option. | |
| Build | Use it to build your application. | |
| Build And Run | Use it to view the WebGL Player locally. Unity uses a local web server to host your build, and opens it from a localhost URL. Alternatively, you can use a custom local web server with properly configured response headers. For more information, see Compressed builds and server configuration. | |
For changing the settings for Asset Import Overrides, refer to Build Settings.
Build folder
The Build folder has the following files, where [ExampleBuild] represents the name of the target build folder.
| File name | Contains |
|---|---|
[ExampleBuild].loader.js |
The JavaScript code that the web page needs to load the Unity content. |
[ExampleBuild].framework.js |
JavaScript runtime and plugins. |
[ExampleBuild].wasm |
WebAssembly binary. |
[ExampleBuild].mem |
A binary image to initialize the heap memory for your Player. Unity generates this file for multi-threaded WebAssembly builds only. |
[ExampleBuild].data |
Asset data and ScenesA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info See in Glossary. |
[ExampleBuild].symbols.json |
Debug symbol names necessary to demangle an error stack trace. This file is only generated for Release builds when you enable the Debug Symbols option (File > Build Settings > Player Settings.) |
[ExampleBuild].jpg |
A background image, which displays while the build is loading. This file is only generated when a Background Image is available in the Player Settings (File > Build Settings > Player Settings > Splash Image). For more information, see Splash Screen. |
If you enable a Compression Method for your build, Unity identifies the extension that corresponds with the compression method and adds this extension to the names of the files inside the Build sub folder. If you enable Decompression Fallback, Unity appends the extension .unityweb to the build file names. Otherwise, Unity appends the extension .gz for the Gzip compression method, or .br for the Brotli compression method.
For more information, refer to Compressed builds and server configuration.
If you enable Name Files As Hashes in the Player Settings, Unity uses the hash of the file content instead of the default file name. This applies to each file in the build folder. This option allows you to upload updated versions of the game builds into the same folder on the server, and only upload the files which have changed between build iterations.
Note: Opening a Player directly from the file system might not work in some browsers. This is due to security restrictions applied to local file URLs.
Enable exceptions
Use Enable Exceptions to specify how unexpected code behavior (also known as errors) is handled at runtime. To access Enable Exceptions, go to the Publishing Settings section in WebGL Player Settings.
It has the following options:
- None: Select this if you don’t need any exception support. This gives the best performance and smallest builds. With this option, any exception thrown causes your content to stop with an error in that setting.
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Explicitly Thrown Exceptions Only (default): Select this to capture exceptions which are explicitly specified from a
throwstatement in your scriptsA piece of code that allows you to create your own Components, trigger game events, modify Component properties over time and respond to user input in any way you like. More info
See in Glossary and to also ensurefinallyblocks are called. Note that selecting this option makes the generated JavaScript code from your scripts longer and slower; This might only be an issue if scripts are the main bottleneck in your project. -
Full Without Stacktrace: Select this option to capture:
* Exceptions which are explicitly specified from
throwstatements in your scripts (the same as in the Explicitly Thrown Exceptions Only option)- Null References
- Out of Bounds Array accesses
- Full With Stacktrace: This option is similar to the option above but it also captures Stack traces. Unity generates these exceptions by embedding checks for them in the code, so this option decreases performance and increases browser memory usage. Only use this for debugging, and always test in a 64-bit browser.