Blink's Layer Tree: Architecture, Rendering, and Performance
Blink2865 Syys 2025

Blink's Layer Tree: Architecture, Rendering, and Performance

The provided text offers an in-depth look into Blink's layer tree, a crucial component in Chromium's rendering engine responsible for transforming web pages into pixels. It explains the architecture of layers, detailing how the Document Object Model (DOM) is processed through various stages like style, layout, and paint, ultimately leading to the creation of layers that are then composited. The article also describes the rendering lifecycle, outlining the steps involved in updating and displaying frames, from initial layout to final GPU composition. Finally, it highlights performance considerations related to layer usage, emphasizing how layers enable hardware acceleration for smooth animations and scrolling, while also cautioning against their overuse and offering debugging tools for optimization.

Jaksot(389)

gpu::SkiaOutputSurfaceImplOnGpu / gpu::CommandBuffer

gpu::SkiaOutputSurfaceImplOnGpu / gpu::CommandBuffer

Bridges Skia’s recorded commands to the GPU command buffer; submits and SwapBuffers to present. (Backend: GL/Vulkan/Metal via GPU process.)

23 Syys 202532min

viz::SkiaRenderer

viz::SkiaRenderer

Renderer that turns quads into Skia operations (recording DDLs / drawing to the output surface).

23 Syys 202552min

viz::Display

viz::Display

The display compositor that walks the aggregated render passes and issues draw commands for the final output.

23 Syys 202538min

cc::LayerTreeHostImpl (Input Handler & Scroll Logic)

cc::LayerTreeHostImpl (Input Handler & Scroll Logic)

Scroll processing and overscroll detection in the compositor. The LayerTreeHostImpl in cc implements the compositor-thread InputHandler that processes gesture scroll updates and flings. It manages the...

23 Syys 202527min

blink::EventHandler (Blink core input handling)

blink::EventHandler (Blink core input handling)

Scroll chain builder and overscroll chaining logic. Blink’s EventHandler is responsible for building the scroll chain (the sequence of nested scrollable ancestors) when the user scrolls an element . I...

23 Syys 202526min

blink::ElasticOverscrollController

blink::ElasticOverscrollController

Overscroll orchestration and animation. This Blink-side controller manages the rubber-banding (elastic stretch and rebound) effect when a scrollable area is overscrolled. It observes gesture scroll ev...

23 Syys 202526min

viz::Surface / SurfaceAggregator

viz::Surface / SurfaceAggregator

Receives frames from one or more surfaces (main page and OOPIFs), aggregates them into a single display frame.

23 Syys 202535min

viz::CompositorFrameSink (client side)

viz::CompositorFrameSink (client side)

The submission interface used by cc to hand the frame to viz.

23 Syys 202531min