🚀 WebAssembly Integration in ELF.js

September 12, 2025 • by ELF.js Team

ELF.js 2.1.0 introduces deep WebAssembly integration via Rust. This post dives into how we achieved native performance using WebAssembly, and how you can leverage this for your applications. We'll cover the architecture, performance benchmarks, and practical examples.

Performance

Architecture Overview

ELF.js now compiles to WebAssembly using Rust for core operations, providing a performance boost over traditional JS frameworks. This integration allows for efficient memory management and faster execution of complex operations.

              graph TD
A[Application] --> B[WebAssembly Module]
B --> C[Rust Core]
C --> D[Web Rendering]
D -->|Output| A
            

Performance Gains

              /* Benchmark Comparison */
Old Framework   | New WebAssembly
-----------------------------------
100ms/operation | 20ms/operation

            

With the new WebAssembly backend, we've achieved a 400% improvement in rendering speed for complex components like 3D visualizations.

Example Usage

              elf.webassembly.compileModule('/modules/math.wasm').then(instance => {
  const result = instance.exports.multiply(12, 23);
  elf.components.calculator.data.output = result;
});
            

This demonstrates how to integrate WebAssembly modules into your components. The `multiply` function runs natively via WebAssembly for better performance.

Use the @wasi/wasi dependency for system-level operations that require file access or socket communication.

Ready to Optimize Your Apps?

Try the latest ELF.js with WebAssembly support and experience native-level performance. Our documentation includes migration guides from v1 to v2.1+. Explore the full potential with our example projects on GitHub.

View Documentation →