Enables the generation of sourcemap files. These files allow debuggers and other tools to display the original TypeScript source code when actually working with the emitted JavaScript files. Source map files are emitted as .js.map (or .jsx.map) files next to the corresponding .js output file.

The .js files will in turn contain a sourcemap comment to indicate where the files are to external tools, for example:

// helloWorld.ts
export declare const helloWorld = "hi";

// helloWorld.ts
export declare const helloWorld = "hi";

Compiling with sourceMap set to true creates the following JavaScript file:

// helloWorld.js
"use strict";
Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", { value: true });
exports.helloWorld = "hi";
//# sourceMappingURL=// helloWorld.js.map

// helloWorld.js
"use strict";
Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", { value: true });
exports.helloWorld = "hi";
//# sourceMappingURL=// helloWorld.js.map

And this also generates this json map:

// helloWorld.js.map
{
  "version": 3,
  "file": "ex.js",
  "sourceRoot": "",
  "sources": ["../ex.ts"],
  "names": [],
  "mappings": ";;AAAa,QAAA,UAAU,GAAG,IAAI,CAAA"
}

// helloWorld.js.map
{
  "version": 3,
  "file": "ex.js",
  "sourceRoot": "",
  "sources": ["../ex.ts"],
  "names": [],
  "mappings": ";;AAAa,QAAA,UAAU,GAAG,IAAI,CAAA"
}