image-rendering

The image-rendering CSS property sets an image scaling algorithm. The property applies to an element itself, to any images set in its other properties, and to its descendants.

Try it

The user agent will scale an image when the page author specifies dimensions other than its natural size. Scaling may also occur due to user interaction (zooming). For example, if the natural size of an image is 100×100px, but its actual dimensions are 200×200px (or 50×50px), then the image will be upscaled (or downscaled) using the algorithm specified by image-rendering. This property has no effect on non-scaled images.

Syntax

css
/* Keyword values */
image-rendering: auto;
image-rendering: crisp-edges;
image-rendering: pixelated;

/* Global values */
image-rendering: inherit;
image-rendering: initial;
image-rendering: revert;
image-rendering: revert-layer;
image-rendering: unset;

Values

auto

The scaling algorithm is UA dependent. Since version 1.9 (Firefox 3.0), Gecko uses bilinear resampling (high quality).

smooth Experimental

The image should be scaled with an algorithm that maximizes the appearance of the image. In particular, scaling algorithms that "smooth" colors are acceptable, such as bilinear interpolation. This is intended for images such as photos.

high-quality Experimental

Identical to smooth, but with a preference for higher-quality scaling. If system resources are constrained, images with high-quality should be prioritized over those with any other value, when considering which images to degrade the quality of and to what degree.

crisp-edges

The image is scaled with an algorithm such as "nearest neighbor" that preserves contrast and edges in the image. Generally intended for images such as pixel art or line drawings, no blurring or color smoothing occurs.

pixelated

The image is scaled with the "nearest neighbor" or similar algorithm to the nearest integer multiple of the original image size, then uses smooth interpolation to bring the image to the final desired size. This is intended to preserve a "pixelated" look without introducing scaling artifacts when the upscaled resolution isn't an integer multiple of the original.

Note: The values optimizeQuality and optimizeSpeed present in an early draft (and coming from its SVG counterpart image-rendering) are defined as synonyms for the smooth and pixelated values respectively.

Formal definition

Initial valueauto
Applies toall elements
Inheritedyes
Computed valueas specified
Animation typediscrete

Formal syntax

image-rendering = 
auto |
smooth |
high-quality |
pixelated |
crisp-edges

Examples

Setting image scaling algorithms

In practical use, the pixelated and crisp-edges rules can be combined to provide some fallback for each other. (Just prepend the actual rules with the fallback.) The Canvas API can provide a fallback solution for pixelated through manual image data manipulation or with imageSmoothingEnabled.

CSS

css
.auto {
  image-rendering: auto;
}

.pixelated {
  image-rendering: pixelated;
}

.crisp-edges {
  image-rendering: -webkit-optimize-contrast;
  image-rendering: crisp-edges;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Images Module Level 3
# the-image-rendering

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

Note: Although crisp-edges is supposed to use a pixel-art scaler like in the specification example, in practice no browsers (as of January 2020) do so. In Firefox, crisp-edges or pixelated is interpreted as nearest-neighbor, and auto is interpolated as trilinear or linear.

For behavior on Chromium and Safari (WebKit), see the GetInterpolationQuality function and CSSPrimitiveValue::operator ImageRendering() respectively.

See also