Small Wasm files - The `wasm-bindgen` Guide

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# Small Wasm files

View full source code or view the compiled example online

One of `wasm-bindgen`'s core goals is a pay-only-for-what-you-use philosophy, so if we don't use much then we shouldn't be paying much! As a result `#[wasm_bindgen]` can generate super-small executables

Currently this code...

    #![allow(unused)]
    fn main() {
    use wasm_bindgen::prelude::*;

    #[wasm_bindgen]
    pub fn add(a: u32, b: u32) -> u32 {
        a + b
    }
    }

generates a 710 byte Wasm binary:

    $ ls -l add_bg.wasm
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 alex alex 710 Sep 19 17:32 add_bg.wasm

If you run wasm-opt, a C++ tool for optimize WebAssembly, you can make it even smaller too!

    $ wasm-opt -Os add_bg.wasm -o add.wasm
    $ ls -l add.wasm
    -rw-rw-r-- 1 alex alex 172 Sep 19 17:33 add.wasm

And sure enough, using the wasm2wat tool it's quite small!

    $ wasm2wat add.wasm
    (module
      (type (;0;) (func (param i32 i32) (result i32)))
      (func (;0;) (type 0) (param i32 i32) (result i32)
        get_local 1
        get_local 0
        i32.add)
      (table (;0;) 1 1 anyfunc)
      (memory (;0;) 17)
      (global (;0;) i32 (i32.const 1049118))
      (global (;1;) i32 (i32.const 1049118))
      (export "memory" (memory 0))
      (export "__indirect_function_table" (table 0))
      (export "__heap_base" (global 0))
      (export "__data_end" (global 1))
      (export "add" (func 0))
      (data (i32.const 1049096) "invalid malloc request"))

Also don't forget to compile in release mode for the smallest binaries! For larger applications you'll likely also want to turn on LTO to generate the smallest binaries:

    [profile.release]
    lto = true