letter-spacing

The letter-spacing attribute controls spacing between text characters, in addition to any spacing from the kerning attribute.

If the attribute value is a unitless number (like 128), the browser processes it as a <length> in the current user coordinate system.

If the attribute value has a unit identifier, such as .25em or 1%, then the browser converts the <length> into its corresponding value in the current user coordinate system.

Note: As a presentation attribute, letter-spacing can be used as a CSS property. See the css letter-spacing property for more information.

As a presentation attribute, it can be applied to any element but it has effect only on the following elements: <altGlyph>, <text>, <textPath>, <tref>, and <tspan>

<svg viewBox="0 0 400 30" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <text y="20" letter-spacing="2">Bigger letter-spacing</text>
  <text x="200" y="20" letter-spacing="-0.5">Smaller letter-spacing</text>
</svg>

Usage notes

Value normal | <length>
Default value normal
Animatable Yes

For a description of the values, please refer to the CSS letter-spacing property.

Prior to Firefox 72 Firefox ignored letter-spacing and renders text without.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
CSS Text Module Level 3
The definition of 'letter-spacing' in that specification.		 Candidate Recommendation SVG 2 just refers to the definition in CSS Text 3.
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition)
The definition of 'letter-spacing' in that specification.		 Recommendation Initial definition

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also