Integration of WebAssembly in Performance-critical Web Applications

Abstract

This article explores the integration of WebAssembly into high-performance web applications as a response to the increasing demands for computational power, scalability, and security in the rapidly evolving landscape of web technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT). The study substantiates the relevance of transitioning from traditional JavaScript to WebAssembly, which allows code written in C/C++ or Rust to be compiled into a compact binary format, delivering near-native execution speed. The article analyzes the architecture of WebAssembly, its advantages, and its integration potential with other technologies, such as WebGPU for accelerated parallel computations. Special attention is given to the current limitations of WebAssembly (e.g., the lack of native garbage collection, debugging difficulties, and challenges in cross-language integration) as well as its promising development directions, including the standardization of WASI and enhancements through multithreading and SIMD support. In comparative experiments on 1024 × 1024 matrix multiplication, the SIMD?enabled WebAssembly module with block?optimized memory access outperformed the optimized JavaScript implementation by 1.64 × and delivered a 4 × improvement over the unvectorized Wasm build, while offloading computations to WebGPU achieved an ~50?fold reduction in execution time for both JavaScript+WebGPU and Wasm+WebGPU configurations. These results substantiate that the integration of WebAssembly and WebGPU brings near?native and GPU?accelerated performance to browser?based applications, laying a quantitatively validated foundation for high?load web and IoT systems.The paper demonstrates a way to accelerate client data processing using a combination of Web Assembly and Web GPU. The results of a comparative experiment are presented. This article will be of interest to professionals in web development and systems architecture who aim to optimize computational workflows and maximize the performance of modern web applications via WebAssembly. Additionally, the material provides valuable insights for researchers engaged in the analysis and development of advanced methodological approaches to optimizing high-load information systems.