This `disableCreateObjectURL` option was originally introduced all the way back in PR 4103 (eight years ago), in order to work-around `URL.createObjectURL()`-bugs specific to Internet Explorer.
In PR 8081 (five years ago) the `disableCreateObjectURL` option was extended to cover Google Chrome on iOS-devices as well, since that configuration apparently also suffered from `URL.createObjectURL()`-bugs.[1]
At this point in time, I thus think that it makes sense to re-evaluate if we should still keep the `disableCreateObjectURL` option.
- For Internet Explorer, support was explicitly removed in PDF.js version `2.7.570` which was released one year ago and all IE-specific compatibility code (and polyfills) have since been removed.
- For Google Chrome on iOS-devices, while we still "support" such configurations, it's *not* the focus of any development and platform-specific bugs are thus often closed as WONTFIX.
Note here that at this point in time, the `disableCreateObjectURL` option is *only* being used in the viewer and any `URL.createObjectURL()`-bugs browser/platform bugs will thus not affect the main PDF.js library. Furthermore, given where the `disableCreateObjectURL` option is being used in the viewer the basic functionality should also remain unaffected by these changes.[2]
Furthermore, it's also possible that the `URL.createObjectURL()`-bugs have been fixed in *browser* itself since PR 8081 was submitted.[3]
Obviously you could argue that this isn't a lot of code, w.r.t. number of lines, and you'd be technically correct. However, it does add additional complexity in a few different viewer components which thus add overhead when reading and working with this code.
Finally, assuming the `URL.createObjectURL()`-bugs are still present in Google Chrome on iOS-devices, I think that we should ask ourselves if it's reasonable for the PDF.js project (and its contributors) to keep attempting to support a configuration if the *browser* developers still haven't fixed these kind of bugs!?
---
[1] According to https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chromium-html5/RKQ0ZJIj7c4, which is linked in PR 8081, that bug was mentioned/reported as early as the 2014 (eight years ago).
[2] Viewer functionality such as e.g. downloading and printing may be affected.
[3] I don't have access to any iOS-devices to test with.
dc2868d7d1