Setting img.src to dataUrl Leaks Memory

Question

Below I\'ve created a simple test case that shows that when an img tag\'s src is set to different dataUrls, it leaks memory. It looks like the image data is never unloaded a

Answer 1

Panchosoft's answer solved this for me in Safari.

This workaround avoids the memory increase by bypassing the leaking Image object.

// Methods to address the memory leaks problems in Safari
var BASE64_MARKER = ';base64,';
var temporaryImage;
var objectURL = window.URL || window.webkitURL;

function convertDataURIToBlob(dataURI) {
    // Validate input data
    if(!dataURI) return;

    // Convert image (in base64) to binary data
    var base64Index = dataURI.indexOf(BASE64_MARKER) + BASE64_MARKER.length;
    var base64 = dataURI.substring(base64Index);
    var raw = window.atob(base64);
    var rawLength = raw.length;
    var array = new Uint8Array(new ArrayBuffer(rawLength));

    for(i = 0; i < rawLength; i++) {
        array[i] = raw.charCodeAt(i);
    }

    // Create and return a new blob object using binary data
    return new Blob([array], {type: "image/jpeg"});
}

then, in the processImage rendering loop:

// Destroy old image
if(temporaryImage) objectURL.revokeObjectURL(temporaryImage);

// Create a new image from binary data
var imageDataBlob = convertDataURIToBlob(imageData);

// Create a new object URL
temporaryImage = objectURL.createObjectURL(imageDataBlob);

// Set the new image
image.src = temporaryImage;