var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open("GET", JPEG_URL, true);
xhr.responseType = "arraybuffer";
xhr.onload = function() {
	var img = new Image();
	img.onload = function() {
		var tex = new THREE.Texture(this);
		//do something with this texture...
	};
	img.src = arrayBufferDataUri(xhr.response);
};
xhr.send(null);

The function “arrayBufferDataUri” at the line 10 allow to speed-up the conversion from ArrayBuffer to base64 ascii string by avoiding an extra copy needed to use window.btoa. I’ve found this function here: http://jsperf.com/encoding-xhr-image-data/5.

//From: http://jsperf.com/encoding-xhr-image-data/5
function arrayBufferDataUri(raw) {
	var base64 = '';
	var encodings = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/';
	var bytes = new Uint8Array(raw);
	var byteLength = bytes.byteLength;
	var byteRemainder = byteLength % 3;
	var mainLength = byteLength - byteRemainder;
	var a, b, c, d;
	var chunk;
	// Main loop deals with bytes in chunks of 3
	for (var i = 0; i < mainLength; i = i + 3) {
		// Combine the three bytes into a single integer
		chunk = (bytes[i] << 16) | (bytes[i + 1] << 8 ) | bytes[i + 2];
		// Use bitmasks to extract 6-bit segments from the triplet
		a = (chunk & 16515072) >> 18; // 16515072 = (2^6 - 1) << 18
		b = (chunk & 258048) >> 12;   // 258048   = (2^6 - 1) << 12
		c = (chunk & 4032) >> 6;      // 4032     = (2^6 - 1) << 6
		d = chunk & 63;               // 63       = 2^6 - 1
		// Convert the raw binary segments to the appropriate ASCII encoding
		base64 += encodings[a] + encodings[b] + encodings[c] + encodings[d]
	}
	// Deal with the remaining bytes and padding
	if (byteRemainder == 1) {
		chunk = bytes[mainLength];
		a = (chunk & 252) >> 2; // 252 = (2^6 - 1) << 2
		// Set the 4 least significant bits to zero
		b = (chunk & 3) << 4;   // 3   = 2^2 - 1
		base64 += encodings[a] + encodings[b] + '==';
	}
	else if (byteRemainder == 2) {
		chunk = (bytes[mainLength] << 8 ) | bytes[mainLength + 1];
		a = (chunk & 16128) >> 8; // 16128 = (2^6 - 1) << 8
		b = (chunk & 1008) >> 4;  // 1008  = (2^6 - 1) << 4
		// Set the 2 least significant bits to zero
		c = (chunk & 15) << 2;    // 15    = 2^4 - 1
		base64 += encodings[a] + encodings[b] + encodings[c] + '=';
	}
	return "data:image/jpeg;base64," + base64;
}

I’ve only used this code for my Google Chrome PhotoSynth WebGL extension. This is why I don’t have added extra check for other browser (line 10: xhr.mozResponseArrayBuffer || xhr.response).

• Ask the other domain to add a CORS http header
• Use a proxy
• Use my trick

Ok, to be honest my “trick” only work for browser extensions (tested with Google Chrome extension only). How is it working?

• Add the domain in the list of allowed cross-domain ajax call in the manifest of the extension.
• Do a binary ajax request on the jpeg
• Parse the jpeg in javascript using jpgjs
• Fill the WebGL texture with the jpeg decoded in JS

The drawbacks are that it can only be used by browser extensions and that JS jpeg decoding is slow compared to native decoding.

I’ve used this workaround to add the pictures in my WebGL PhotoSynth Viewer extension.

I’ve posted a new version which is really much faster.