What is the difference between an ArrayBuffer and a Blob?

Issue

I'm reading http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/xhr2/ and trying to figure out the difference between an ArrayBuffer and a Blob.

Aren't both containers comprised of bits? Hence, couldn't both containers be viewed in many ways (as 32-bit chunks, 16-bit chunks, etc.)?

Solution

It's explained on the page.

ArrayBuffer

An ArrayBuffer is a generic fixed-length container for binary data. They are super handy if you need a generalized buffer of raw data, but the real power behind these guys is that you can create "views" of the underlying data using JavaScript typed arrays. In fact, multiple views can be created from a single ArrayBuffer source. For example, you could create an 8-bit integer array that shares the same ArrayBuffer as an existing 32-bit integer array from the same data. The underlying data remains the same, we just create different representations of it.

BLOB

If you want to work directly with a Blob and/or don't need to manipulate any of the file's bytes, use xhr.responseType='blob':

Answered By - Halcyon