Those properties do not actually exist on the ArrayBuffer object. They are put there by the Dev Tools window for viewing the ArrayBuffer contents.

You need to actually create the TypedArray of your choice through its constructor syntax

new TypedArray(buffer [, byteOffset [, length]]);

So in your case if you want Uint8Array you would need to do:

var uint8View = new Uint8Array(arrayBuffer);
Answer from Patrick Evans on Stack Overflow
Discussions

javascript - Uint8Array to ArrayBuffer - Stack Overflow
So I have a ArrayBuffer which is of the file contents of a file which I read with the new HTML5 file reader as ArrayBuffer(), and I can convert the ArrayBuffer to Uint8Array by doing the following.... More on stackoverflow.com
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How to convert ArrayBuffer to buffer and ArrayButton to uint8 Array in javascript . Please help! - Ask the community - Community Support Forum | Wix Studio
I looked at a lot of options online to convert ArrayBuffer to buffer and tried them but it doesnt seem to work and throws the error : Could not conver to bufferTypeError: Error: Unable to handle the request. Contact the site administrator or view site monitoring logs for more information." More on forum.wixstudio.com
🌐 forum.wixstudio.com
0
March 6, 2023
Buffer to Uint8Array conversion method?
Buffer is a subclass of Uint8Array, so you can generally treat it like a Uint8Array. However, Buffer changes the behavior of the .slice() method, so treating it like a Uint8Array may cause subtle p... More on github.com
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2
October 25, 2023
You shouldn't be allowed to pass Uint8Array when ArrayBuffer is expected ...
What doesn't make sense ? A Uint8Array extends an ArrayBuffer so... ? Every Uint8Array is an ArrayBuffer. More on reddit.com
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December 14, 2024
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MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › JavaScript › Reference › Global_Objects › Uint8Array
Uint8Array - JavaScript - MDN Web Docs
The Uint8Array typed array represents an array of 8-bit unsigned integers. The contents are initialized to 0 unless initialization data is explicitly provided. Once established, you can reference elements in the array using the object's methods, or using standard array index syntax (that is, ...
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JavaScripture
javascripture.com › Uint8Array
Uint8Array JavaScript API
Creates a new Uint8Array and copies the items of array into this. array can be any of the typed array types and the copied items will be converted to 8 bit unsigned integers before being stored in this. Run · new Uint8Array(buffer : ArrayBuffer, [byteOffset = 0 : Number, [length : Number]]) ...
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Wix Studio
forum.wixstudio.com › ask the community
How to convert ArrayBuffer to buffer and ArrayButton to uint8 Array in javascript . Please help! - Ask the community - Community Support Forum | Wix Studio
March 6, 2023 - I looked at a lot of options online to convert ArrayBuffer to buffer and tried them but it doesnt seem to work and throws the error : Could not conver to bufferTypeError: Error: Unable to handle the request. Contact the…
🌐
GitHub
github.com › sindresorhus › uint8array-extras › issues › 4
Buffer to Uint8Array conversion method? · Issue #4 · sindresorhus/uint8array-extras
October 25, 2023 - Buffer is a subclass of Uint8Array, so you can generally treat it like a Uint8Array. However, Buffer changes the behavior of the .slice() method, so treating it like a Uint8Array may cause subtle problems. Converting to Uint8Array can be...
Author: sindresorhus
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WebPlatform
webplatform.github.io › docs › javascript › Uint8Array
Uint8Array · WebPlatform Docs
A typed array of 8-bit unsigned integer values. The contents are initialized to 0. If the requested number of bytes could not be allocated an exception is raised. uint8Array = new Uint8Array( length ); uintArray = new Uint8Array( array ); uintArray = new Uint8Array( buffer , byteOffset , length );
Find elsewhere
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MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › JavaScript › Reference › Global_Objects › Uint8Array › Uint8Array
Uint8Array() constructor - JavaScript - MDN Web Docs
July 10, 2025 - Attempting to call it without new throws a TypeError. See TypedArray. See TypedArray. ... // From a length const uint8 = new Uint8Array(2); uint8[0] = 42; console.log(uint8[0]); // 42 console.log(uint8.length); // 2 console.log(uint8.BYTES_PER_ELEMENT); // 1 // From an array const x = new Uint8Array([21, 31]); console.log(x[1]); // 31 // From another TypedArray const y = new Uint8Array(x); console.log(y[0]); // 21 // From an ArrayBuffer const buffer = new ArrayBuffer(8); const z = new Uint8Array(buffer, 1, 4); console.log(z.byteOffset); // 1 // From an iterable const iterable = (function* () { yield* [1, 2, 3]; })(); const uint8FromIterable = new Uint8Array(iterable); console.log(uint8FromIterable); // Uint8Array [1, 2, 3]
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GitHub
github.com › jimmywarting › to-uint8array
GitHub - jimmywarting/to-uint8array: Convert anything to Uint8Array without a copy · GitHub
import toUint8 from 'to-uint8array' const buffer = Buffer.from('abc') const u8 = new Uint8Array([97]) const u16 = new Uint16Array([0, 1, 2]) const ab = new ArrayBuffer(3) toUint8(u16) // Uint8Array(6) [ 0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0 ] toUint8(ab) // Uint8Array(3) [ 0, 0, 0 ] toUint8('abc') // Uint8Array(3) [ 97, 98, 99 ] toUint8(buffer) // Uint8Array(3) [ 97, 98, 99 ] toUint8(u8) === u8 // true toUint8(u16) === u16 // false toUint8(ab).buffer === ab // true toUint8(u16).buffer === u16.buffer // true toUint8(buffer) instanceof Uint8Array // true toUint8(buffer) instanceof Buffer // false
Author: jimmywarting
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JavaScript.info
javascript.info › tutorial › binary data, files
ArrayBuffer, binary arrays
July 11, 2022 - It’s the “eyeglasses” that give an interpretation of the bytes stored in the ArrayBuffer. ... Uint8Array – treats each byte in ArrayBuffer as a separate number, with possible values from 0 to 255 (a byte is 8-bit, so it can hold only ...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/typescript › you shouldn't be allowed to pass uint8array when arraybuffer is expected ...
r/typescript on Reddit: You shouldn't be allowed to pass Uint8Array when ArrayBuffer is expected ...
December 14, 2024 -

It doesn't make sense to allow being able to assign Uint8Array (Uint16Array, Uint32Array, etc.) to an ArrayBuffer.

What's a good way to enforce that with types?

Or maybe there is a type that only accepts ArrayBufer and excludes TypedArrays (like Uint8Array)?

As you can see here, it is currently possible:

https://www.typescriptlang.org/play/?#code/LAKALgngDgpgBAMQPZLgXjgQQE7YIYQBCArgGakzZwwAeYMAdgCYDOcAqgJYNgAcO+CHAD8cAEQQYLMXABc4hkjEBuUJFiIUAJnQdufAQWp1GrLLgIlylEeMnS5CpapCgANjDBwAbvOSoMMUUVd084Bj9tXQkpENcQAGMkBhYvGnlDIjIKKgwGGAB3PR5+CwgACgBtABYtAF0AShcklK8IeS4SzN18osyrHPLapqA

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Bun
bun.sh › guides › binary › arraybuffer-to-typedarray
Convert an ArrayBuffer to a Uint8Array - Bun
const buffer = new ArrayBuffer(64); const arr = new Uint8Array(buffer);
🌐
Medium
medium.com › weekly-webtips › javascript-lost-in-binaries-buffer-blob-uint8array-arraybuffer-ed8d2b4de44a
JavaScript: Lost in binaries — Buffer/Blob/UInt8Array/ArrayBuffer | by Naveen Kumarasinghe | Medium
April 2, 2023 - ArrayBuffer provides a fixed-size block of memory that can be manipulated with binary data, while Uint8Array provides a view into that memory for more efficient manipulation. Blob is used to represent binary data that is used in HTTP requests ...
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › js › js_arraybuffers.asp
JavaScript Array Buffer
// Create an ArrayBuffer const myBuf = new ArrayBuffer(8); // Create a Uint8Array const view = new Uint8Array(myBuf); // Fill with values 0 to 7 for (let i = 0; i < view.length; i++) { view[i] = i; } // Create a copy of bytes from 2 to 5 (not including 5) const sliced = myBuf.slice(2, 5); const slicedView = new Uint8Array(sliced); Try it Yourself »
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/node › eli5: file, uint8array, buffer, arraybuffer, bytesarray, blob…
r/node on Reddit: ELI5: File, Uint8Array, Buffer, Arraybuffer, BytesArray, Blob…
December 16, 2021 -

I’m always ending up guessing.. I need to somehow understand. I have no idea what I’m doing when working with files. Just trying stuff until it works. Someone plz ELI5..

My current issue is getting a png file from Firebase storage which gives a “file” which I’m trying to add on a pdf, where the library expects a Uint8Array or Arraybuffer. I’ve been doing similar things before. But end up just guessing my way until it works, and this time.. well it doesn’t work. I guessed it all with no success. I don’t know what I’m doing so I guess I need to actually learn ;)

Top answer
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A digital system, like a computer works on digital data, thus things which can be represented as digits. Or simpler: Computer sees a bit of numbers and works on them. Also a text is just a long number. Some time ago, one decided to have computers work on binary digits and to group 8 out of those as the typical size. That is a byte. (There were computers using other byte sizes, that's why sometimes, especially in network protocols, it is called octet) With a byte of eight bits you can represent 256 values. (From 0 to 255) over multiple decades there were discussions on representing text (actually that was prr-computer already with telegraphs etc) and one found the ASCII rules to map between numeric values and characters. Each letter in the English alphabet got a code. Thus the word Hello becomes the sequence of numbers 72 101 108 108 111 Now decimal system ia nice when counting with fingers, but not so good for a binary machine. As said we have the byte, thus instead ten digits is inconvenient so we use a number system with base 16, thus any digit can not only have ten different values (0 to 9) but 16 (0 to 9 and A to F) Thus the same numbers as above can be written in hex 0x48 0x65 0x6C 0x6C 0x6F Now each byte is represented by two hex digits which gives a nice structure (and if you notice that 0x41 is A and 0x61 is a you start to understand ASCII) Now over time 256 characters wasn't enough for represting text in all languages, so after many years and messing around with different code pages and encodings smart folks came up with Unicode and Utf-8 to encode all characters. Won't go there too deep, but in essence utf-8 uses the ASCII table for the first 128 characters (half a byte, the lower half) and all other characters use multiple bytes. The German letter Ä fornisntance is 0xC3 0x48. In addition the Unicode standard has specific rules on sorting and comparing those values and some fancy transformations. (Sorting rules are even language dependent, so the German Ä can be sorted like AE, behind Z or simply as A) Wenn Browsers and JavaScript were created it was decided that a string in JavaScirpt shall be Unicode data. This is logical as websites are full of human readable text and properties of Unicode are good (well, the story is more complicated there, but good enough) This was good for the time where Web was working with simple websites and JavaScript was doing minor text manipulation. However for lower layers of the compitong stack data is just a sequence of bytes. In memory you have bytes. A file is a sequence of bytes. The meaning of those bytes might be Unicode text, might be an image, might even be bianry program code all are just bytes. The difference is only in the one looking at it. Now treating all data as unicode string will do harm, as they have all the assumptions on top where only specific byte sequences are valid and so on. So something else had to be added. And in fact different groups added different things. Before we can explain that, one step more is needed: as said interpretation depends on who looks at the data. So back to our numbers and from decimal and hex to binary. As said 8 bit are a byte. The number 1 in binary with it 8 bits would look like 0b00000001 Here using 0b as prefix, so you interpret it as binary, not hey, not decimal. The value 127 inn inary looks like this: 0b01111111 all bits, but the first set. Now something fancy happens when we set the first bit to 1 as well: 0b11111111 This can either be 255 or -1. Wait what negative!? You will ask: Yes, there eisna problem with these numbers: Our byte has to represent negative numbers as well. And then the first digit tells us whether it's negative or positive. And whenever we look at the byte we have to make a choice how we look at it. Is it a text character? Is it a positive number? A negative number? The byte doesn't know and doesn't care only we when looking at it. Now the Uint8Array enters! By giving a sequence of bytes (some area in memory) to an Uint8Buffer we tell it "look at those bytes and treat tit like a sequence of bytes, where each byte is a 8 bit unsigned number" and by that we can work with those.bytes and each byte will be a number 0 to 256 and whatever we do with the array decides on what it does with those bytes. Maybe it is a pixel in an image, maybe an frequency on an audio file, maybe ... Now another term there eisnthe Buffer. A buffer is just some area in memory. An arrayBuffer is "this is my area of memory, but I haven't yet decided how i will interpret it" I said Buffer, I said complicazednhsorory ... That tis that Node.js developers Hand this issue before ArrayBuffer d Uint8Array was defined, so they created their own thing, which is similar to an Unit8Array (modern versions of Buffer are built on Uint8Array) but don't be confused, buffer is a generic term for some data stored somewhere, which is distinct from Buffer, which is a type in Node.js. Now there ris a bit more. 256 is a bit low formmany purposes. So you can group multiple bytes and make them digits in a larger number. Quite typical are efor 4 byte, which are 32 bit. Thus a Int32Array takes 4 bytes at once from the underlying data (the ArrayBuffer, the buffer, the memory region) and makes it a 32 bit signed number (- 2147483648 to 2147483647) the Uint32Array (0 to 4294967295) and if that isn't enought there are big(u)int64Array, which look at 8 byte at a time, which is also the number of byte/bit a modern CPU can store in it's register, transfer though bus and process the best, hence 64bit architecture. The key thing is: memory (RAM, disk or any other form) in modern computers is just a sequence of bytes and the way you look at it decides on the meaning. The computer doesn't know and you have to tell it. Uint8Array is the typically representation for low level work. ArrayBuffer is when you haven't decided, yet and all else are more special.
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it's a bit of a Pia esp when different libs want diff types. An ArrayBuffer is raw data. Like a big bag of data. You can't do anything with it - but if you convert it to something that can look inside the bag (Uint8Array), you can read / write it. If you just want to read, then Blob is your guy.
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GitHub
gist.github.com › skratchdot › e095036fad80597f1c1a
Array Buffer -> String and String -> ArrayBuffer conversions in javascript · GitHub
convertArrayBufferToNumber(buffer: ArrayBuffer){ const bytes = new Uint8Array(buffer); const dv = new DataView(bytes.buffer); return dv.getUint16(0, true); }