animation-direction

The animation-direction CSS property sets whether an animation should play forward, backward, or alternate back and forth between playing the sequence forward and backward.

It is often convenient to use the shorthand property animation to set all animation properties at once.

Syntax

/* Single animation */
animation-direction: normal;
animation-direction: reverse;
animation-direction: alternate;
animation-direction: alternate-reverse;

/* Multiple animations */
animation-direction: normal, reverse;
animation-direction: alternate, reverse, normal;

/* Global values */
animation-direction: inherit;
animation-direction: initial;
animation-direction: revert;
animation-direction: unset;

Values

normal: The animation plays forwards each cycle. In other words, each time the animation cycles, the animation will reset to the beginning state and start over again. This is the default value.
reverse: The animation plays backwards each cycle. In other words, each time the animation cycles, the animation will reset to the end state and start over again. Animation steps are performed backwards, and timing functions are also reversed. For example, an ease-in timing function becomes ease-out.
alternate: The animation reverses direction each cycle, with the first iteration being played forwards. The count to determine if a cycle is even or odd starts at one.
alternate-reverse: The animation reverses direction each cycle, with the first iteration being played backwards. The count to determine if a cycle is even or odd starts at one.

Note: When you specify multiple comma-separated values on an animation-* property, they will be assigned to the animations specified in the animation-name property in different ways depending on how many there are. For more information, see Setting multiple animation property values.

Formal definition

Initial value	`normal`
Applies to	all elements, `::before` and `::after` pseudo-elements
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

<single-animation-direction>#where 
<single-animation-direction> = normal | reverse | alternate | alternate-reverse

Examples

The animation is playing reversed

HTML

<div class="box"></div>

CSS

.box {
  background-color: rebeccapurple;
  border-radius: 10px;
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  animation-name: rotate;
  animation-duration: 0.7s;
  animation-direction: reverse;
}

@keyframes rotate {
  0% {
    transform: rotate(0);
  }
  100% {
    transform: rotate(360deg);
  }
}

Result

See CSS animations for examples.

Specifications

Specification
CSS Animations Level 2 # animation-direction

Browser compatibility

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