The short answer
Compile the game to WebAssembly and render it with WebGPU, and it runs in the tab on the player's own graphics card. Nothing is installed and no cloud GPU runs behind the player. SimplyStream does this for Unreal Engine 5.8 and the Unreal Engine 6 line: you send the project to Strata, its build agent, and get back a link.
When a device can't run the game, the same link can stream it from a cloud GPU instead. That second way is what Epic calls Pixel Streaming.
Does Unreal Engine have a web export?
For years it did not. Epic took the HTML5 export out of Unreal in 4.24, in 2019, and from then on its route to a browser was Pixel Streaming, which sends video of a game running elsewhere.
On November 9, 2026, Epic released an experimental web target in the Unreal Engine 5.9 Preview, built on WebAssembly and WebGPU with Unreal's mobile renderer. It needs a source build of the engine and a C++ project, and you host the files yourself. Epic lists crashes above 2 GB of memory among its known issues and says parts of the web renderer will be reworked before 5.9 is final. SimplyStream and Unreal's own web target sets the two side by side.
SimplyStream is a separate web port of the engine for Unreal Engine 5.8 and 6. It ships today, Strata builds it for you without an engine source build, and it runs Unreal's desktop renderer as well as the mobile one.
Three ways a game reaches the browser
| Mode | Where the game runs | What draws it | What the player needs | Cost on SimplyStream |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In the browser | The player’s device, as WebAssembly | The player’s GPU, with WebGPU | A browser with WebGPU | $0 a minute |
| Draw streaming (early access) | A CPU-only cloud server | The player’s GPU, from streamed draw calls | Their own GPU | Billed from credits; no cloud GPU |
| Cloud streaming (pixel streaming) | A cloud GPU machine | The cloud GPU; the browser plays video | A browser that plays video | Per minute, at the GPU’s rate |
One link covers all three. The launch page picks a mode when the player starts the game, from their device and the rules you set, and the session stays in that mode until it ends.
Browser support
In-browser play needs WebGPU. Cloud streaming only needs a browser that plays video.
| Browser | In the browser (WebGPU) | Cloud streaming |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | Yes, WebGPU ships in Chrome | Yes |
| Edge | Yes, WebGPU ships in Edge | Yes |
| Firefox | Yes, WebGPU ships in Firefox | Yes |
| Safari | Yes, WebGPU ships in Safari | Yes |
| Any browser where WebGPU is unavailable | No | Yes, if you have turned streaming on |
WebGPU can be missing on a machine even in a browser that ships it:
- Hardware acceleration is turned off in the browser's settings.
- The GPU driver is old, or the browser has blocked the GPU. In Chrome or Edge,
chrome://gpushows the WebGPU line. - The browser itself is out of date.
The browser picks one of two graphics modes from the player's GPU: desktop-class (Unreal's SM5) or mobile-class (ES3.1). Strata plays every build in both before it ships, so a build that only works in one fails the check instead of reaching players.
What works
- Engine versions: Unreal Engine 5.8 on every plan, and 6.0, the Unreal Engine 6 line, on paid plans now and on Free from 1 June 2027. A project from an older version has to be upgraded to one of these lines first.
- Project types: Blueprint-only and C++ projects both build.
- Rendering: Epic's Electric Dreams sample, with Nanite, Lumen, Substrate and virtual shadow maps, passes Strata's automated GPU checks in both graphics modes.
- Multiplayer: Unreal dedicated servers run as WebAssembly too. Browser players connect over WebSocket, WebRTC or WebTransport.
You can play Epic's samples and our own game, SpaceLancers, on the demos page.
Limits to plan for
- Memory: a build runs as 32-bit WebAssembly with a 3,998 MB heap by default. The game's peak memory, including everything it loads while playing, has to fit.
- Multiplayer bandwidth: each player connection is limited to 10 KB/s by default. You can raise it in the project's config.
- Download size: players download the game's content, so texture sizes and unused assets matter more than they do for a desktop build.
The build guides cover each of these, and troubleshooting covers what to do when a game won't start.
How to put your game in the browser
- Sign up. The Free plan has no monthly fee and two Strata runs a day.
- Send the project folder to Strata: paste a prompt into a coding agent such as Claude Code or
Codex, or install the Strata command line tool and run
strata push. You don't package the game yourself. - Strata builds the project for the web, puts it online, and plays it in Chrome on a cloud GPU in both graphics modes. A build that doesn't start, or shows a visibly broken frame, fails.
- Share the play link, or put it on your own domain.
Start with Strata has the commands for each way of sending a project.
What it costs
A game running in the player's browser costs $0 a minute on every plan, because the player's GPU does the rendering. Cloud streaming is billed per minute at the rate of the GPU a session uses. See pricing for the plans, and what application streaming costs for how other services charge.
Questions
Can Unreal Engine 5 run in a web browser?
Yes. SimplyStream compiles Unreal Engine 5.8 and 6 games to WebAssembly and renders them with WebGPU on the player’s own GPU, and Strata builds and hosts them for you. Epic removed Unreal’s own web export in version 4.24, in 2019, and brought an experimental one back in the Unreal Engine 5.9 Preview on November 9, 2026, for C++ projects built from engine source.
Which browsers can run an Unreal game compiled for the web?
Any browser with WebGPU, which ships in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. It can still be unavailable on one machine: when hardware acceleration is turned off, the GPU driver is old, or the browser is out of date.
Do players have to install anything?
No. The player opens a link and the game runs in the tab. There is no plugin, launcher or download step.
Is this the same as Pixel Streaming?
No. Pixel Streaming runs the game on a GPU in a data centre and sends video to the browser, so every minute of play uses a cloud GPU. A game compiled to WebAssembly runs on the player’s device and uses no cloud GPU. SimplyStream does both from one link, and only streams when a device can’t run the game.
Do I need a custom engine build or an SDK?
No. Strata, the build agent inside SimplyStream, builds your project on its own machines with the web engine already in place. You keep the Unreal 5.8 or 6.0 editor you already use.
Does multiplayer work in the browser?
Yes. Unreal dedicated servers run on SimplyStream as WebAssembly, and browser players connect over WebSocket, WebRTC or WebTransport.
Unreal and Unreal Engine are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States and elsewhere.