How to read local binary file to UInt8Array fast. in below code

function readAllBytesAsUInt8Array(path) {
    var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
    req.open("GET", path, false);
    req.overrideMimeType("text/plain; charset=binary-data");
    req.send(null);
    if (req.status !== 200) {
        console.log("error");
        return null;
    }
    var text = req.responseText;
    var resultArray = new Uint8Array(text.length);
    for(var i = 0; i < text.length;i++){
    resultArray[i] = (text[i].charCodeAt() & 255) & 255;
    }
    return resultArray.buffer;
 }

var text = req.responseText; is executed less than a second,meanwhile this part

var resultArray = new Uint8Array(text.length);
for(var i = 0; i < text.length;i++){
    resultArray[i] = (text[i].charCodeAt() & 255) & 255;
}

takes around 10sec for 50MB of binary file, Is there a way to read binary file to UInt8Array faster ?

How to read local binary file to UInt8Array fast. in below code

function readAllBytesAsUInt8Array(path) {
    var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
    req.open("GET", path, false);
    req.overrideMimeType("text/plain; charset=binary-data");
    req.send(null);
    if (req.status !== 200) {
        console.log("error");
        return null;
    }
    var text = req.responseText;
    var resultArray = new Uint8Array(text.length);
    for(var i = 0; i < text.length;i++){
    resultArray[i] = (text[i].charCodeAt() & 255) & 255;
    }
    return resultArray.buffer;
 }

var text = req.responseText; is executed less than a second,meanwhile this part

var resultArray = new Uint8Array(text.length);
for(var i = 0; i < text.length;i++){
    resultArray[i] = (text[i].charCodeAt() & 255) & 255;
}

takes around 10sec for 50MB of binary file, Is there a way to read binary file to UInt8Array faster ?

• javascript
• performance
• io
• uint8t

Share Improve this question Follow asked Sep 21, 2017 at 7:42 user818117user818117 42011 gold badge55 silver badges1515 bronze badges 6

• just wondering, do you really need to do var resultArray = new Uint8Array(text.length);. ? JavaScript doesn't ask for you to predefine the array size for it. just say resultArray = []; and fill it just like you fill yours – Dellirium Commented Sep 21, 2017 at 7:48
• Why do you not set .responseType of XMLHttpRequest() to "arraybuffer"? – guest271314 Commented Sep 21, 2017 at 7:51
• 1 it will be more slower as i push each time to the array it will have to reallocate larger memory for every byte appending – user818117 Commented Sep 21, 2017 at 7:51
• @guest271314 then what is the right way to convert from arraybuffer to uint8array ? var z = new Uint8Array(buffer) ? – user818117 Commented Sep 21, 2017 at 7:52
• Have you tried using FileReaderSync() and transferring the object to avoid copying the object? – guest271314 Commented Sep 21, 2017 at 7:52

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2 Answers 2

Sorted by: Reset to default 3

You can set .responseType of XMLHttpRequest() to "arraybuffer", then pass ArrayBuffer instance to new Uint8Array(). Alternatively you can use fetch() and Response.arrayBuffer() or FileReaderSync() within Worker to transfer the ArrayBuffer to main thread without copying the ArrayBuffer.

req.responseType = "arraybuffer";
let buffer = req.response;
let u = new Uint8Array(buffer);

You can use a TextEncoder! TextEncoder takes a stream of code points as input and emits a stream of bytes.

Here is your new code :)

function readAllBytesAsUInt8Array(path) {
    var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
    req.open("GET", path, false);
    req.overrideMimeType("text/plain; charset=binary-data");
    req.send(null);
    if (req.status !== 200) {
        console.log("error");
        return null;
    }
    var text = req.responseText;
    var encoder = new TextEncoder("utf-8");
    var resultArray = encoder.encode(text);
    return resultArray.buffer;
 }

See how that works, should be a lot faster.