background-clip

The background-clip CSS property sets whether an element's background extends underneath its border box, padding box, or content box.

If the element has no background-image or background-color, this property will only have a visual effect when the border has transparent regions or partially opaque regions (due to border-style or border-image); otherwise, the border masks the difference.

Note: Because the root element has a different background painting area, the background-clip property has no effect when specified on it. See "The backgrounds of special elements."

Note: For documents whose root element is an HTML element: if the computed value of background-image on the root element is none and its background-color is transparent, user agents must instead propagate the computed values of the background properties from that element's first HTML <body> child element. The used values of that <body> element's background properties are their initial values, and the propagated values are treated as if they were specified on the root element. It is recommended that authors of HTML documents specify the canvas background for the <body> element rather than the HTML element.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
background-clip: border-box;
background-clip: padding-box;
background-clip: content-box;
background-clip: text;

/* Global values */
background-clip: inherit;
background-clip: initial;
background-clip: revert;
background-clip: unset;

Values

border-box: The background extends to the outside edge of the border (but underneath the border in z-ordering).
padding-box: The background extends to the outside edge of the padding. No background is drawn beneath the border.
content-box: The background is painted within (clipped to) the content box.
text: The background is painted within (clipped to) the foreground text.

Accessibility concerns

When using background-clip: text check that the contrast ratio between the background color and the color of the text placed over it is high enough that people experiencing low vision conditions will be able to read the content of the page.

If the background image does not load, this could also lead to the text becoming unreadable. Add a fallback background-color to prevent this from happening, and test without the image.

Consider using feature queries with @supports to test for support of background-clip: text and provide an accessible alternative where it is not supported.

Formal definition

Initial value	`border-box`
Applies to	all elements. It also applies to `::first-letter` and `::first-line`.
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete

Formal syntax

<box>#where 
<box> = border-box | padding-box | content-box

Examples

HTML

<p class="border-box">The background extends behind the border.</p>
<p class="padding-box">The background extends to the inside edge of the border.</p>
<p class="content-box">The background extends only to the edge of the content box.</p>
<p class="text">The background is clipped to the foreground text.</p>

CSS

p {
  border: .8em darkviolet;
  border-style: dotted double;
  margin: 1em 0;
  padding: 1.4em;
  background: linear-gradient(60deg, red, yellow, red, yellow, red);
  font: 900 1.2em sans-serif;
  text-decoration: underline;
}

.border-box { background-clip: border-box; }
.padding-box { background-clip: padding-box; }
.content-box { background-clip: content-box; }

.text {
  background-clip: text;
  -webkit-background-clip: text;
  color: rgba(0,0,0,.2);
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Module Level 4 # background-clip

Browser compatibility

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