Contact emails
[email protected]

Explainer
https://github.com/w3c/webtransport/blob/main/explainer.md#transport-modes


Specification
https://www.w3.org/TR/webtransport/#dom-webtransport-reliability


Summary
Adds the WebTransport.reliability instance attribute and static 
WebTransport.supportsReliableOnly attribute. These APIs indicate whether the 
user agent supports WebTransport over exclusively reliable connections and 
whether an established session supports unreliable transport such as datagrams. 
In Chromium, reliability initially returns "pending" and changes to 
"supports-unreliable" after an HTTP/3 WebTransport connection is established. 
Since Chromium does not currently support HTTP/2 fallback, 
WebTransport.supportsReliableOnly returns false; any successfully established 
session uses HTTP/3 and supports unreliable datagrams.


Blink component
Blink>Network>WebTransport


Web Feature ID
webtransport


Motivation
WebTransport may operate over connections with different reliability 
capabilities. Applications such as games, interactive media, and real-time 
collaboration tools need to know whether unreliable datagrams are available 
before selecting their transport strategy. WebTransport.supportsReliableOnly 
reports whether the user agent supports WebTransport over exclusively reliable 
connections. The per-session reliability attribute is "pending" while 
connecting and becomes "reliable-only" or "supports-unreliable" once the 
transport is known. Chromium currently implements WebTransport over HTTP/3 with 
unreliable datagram support, so established sessions report 
"supports-unreliable" and supportsReliableOnly returns false.


Initial public proposal
https://github.com/w3c/webtransport/pull/385


TAG review
This is a small incremental implementation of attributes already defined in the 
existing W3C WebTransport specification. It does not introduce a new API design 
or Chromium-specific extension


TAG review status
Not applicable


Goals for experimentation
None


Risks




Interoperability and Compatibility
Compatibility risk is low because both attributes are additive and do not 
change existing WebTransport behavior. Interoperability risk is low because the 
attributes and their "pending" , "reliable-only" , and "supports-unreliable" 
values are defined by the W3C WebTransport specification. Equivalent APIs are 
implemented or partially implemented in WebKit and Firefox, and WebTransport is 
an Interop 2026 focus area.

Gecko: Shipped/Shipping (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1709355)

WebKit: Shipped/Shipping (https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/pull/55124)

Web developers: Positive 
(https://github.com/web-platform-tests/interop/issues/1121) The Interop 2026 
WebTransport proposal received 28 👍 reactions. Developers also reported active 
WebTransport use and significant cross-engine differences.

Other signals:


Ergonomics
Ergonomics risk is low. reliability synchronously returns "pending" while 
connecting, and applications can await WebTransport.ready before reading its 
final value. The static supportsReliableOnly attribute enables capability 
detection before creating a connection.


Activation
Activation risk is low. This is an additive API that does not change existing 
WebTransport behavior or require server changes. Developers can use standard 
feature detection and retain existing fallbacks for older browsers.


Security
No new network capability or sensitive information is exposed. The attributes 
report whether an implementation or session supports exclusively reliable or 
unreliable WebTransport, which is already observable through the available 
WebTransport APIs. They expose no server data, credentials, addresses, or 
user-specific information.


WebView application risks

Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such that it 
has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications?
Low. This is an additive API surface and does not modify the behavior of 
existing WebTransport connections. WebView applications that do not use the 
attributes are unaffected



Debuggability
The attributes can be inspected directly from JavaScript or the Chrome DevTools 
Console. Developers can inspect transport.reliability before and after 
transport.ready resolves and inspect WebTransport.supportsReliableOnly without 
creating a connection. No additional DevTools-specific support is required


Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, 
ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)?
Yes
All Blink platforms on which WebTransport is supported. The implementation is 
in cross-platform Blink code.


Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests?
Yes
WPT coverage verifies that: • Initial "pending" state. • Transition after ready 
. • Web IDL exposure. Static attribute and initial state: 
https://wpt.fyi/results/webtransport/reliability.https.any.html?label=experimental&label=master&aligned
 State after connection establishment: 
https://wpt.fyi/results/webtransport/reliability.https.window.html?label=experimental&label=master&aligned
 IDL harness: 
https://wpt.fyi/results/webtransport/idlharness.https.sub.any.html?label=experimental&label=master&aligned


Flag name on about://flags
chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features


Finch feature name
WebTransportReliability


Rollout plan
Will ship enabled for all users


Requires code in //chrome?
False


Tracking bug
https://issues.chromium.org/issues/545636884


Measurement
Measure through Web Platform Test results, Interop 2026 WebTransport results, 
and developer feedback. No dedicated UMA metric is planned because this is an 
additive capability-reporting API that does not change network behavior.


Availability expectation
Expected to become available across major browser engines as part of the W3C 
WebTransport specification. WebKit implements both attributes, while Firefox 
currently implements the per-session reliability attribute


Adoption expectation
Expected to be adopted by WebTransport applications that use datagrams or need 
to operate across transports with different reliability capabilities.


Adoption plan
Adoption is expected to happen organically as WebTransport applications use 
these attributes to select between reliable streams and unreliable datagrams.


Non-OSS dependencies

Does the feature depend on any code or APIs outside the Chromium open source 
repository and its open-source dependencies to function?
No


Estimated milestones


Shipping on desktop 158

DevTrial on desktop 155

Shipping on Android 158

DevTrial on Android 155

Shipping on WebView 158




Anticipated spec changes

Open questions about a feature may be a source of future web compat or interop 
issues. Please list open issues (eg links to known github issues in the project 
for the feature specification) whose resolution may introduce web 
compat/interop risk (eg, changing to naming or structure of the API in a 
non-backward-compatible way).
None. The attributes and WebTransportReliabilityMode values are already defined 
in the W3C WebTransport specification.


Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status
https://chromestatus.com/feature/5094058497277952?gate=5518510552907776


Links to previous Intent discussions
Intent to Prototype: 
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/6a9705af.b5ef4c6f.265fb1.0007.GAE%40google.com



This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status.

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