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align-content align-items align-self all animation animation-delay animation-direction animation-duration animation-fill-mode animation-iteration-count animation-name animation-play-state animation-timing-function backface-visibility background background-attachment background-blend-mode background-clip background-color background-image background-origin background-position background-repeat background-size border border-bottom border-bottom-color border-bottom-left-radius border-bottom-right-radius border-bottom-style border-bottom-width border-collapse border-color border-image border-image-outset border-image-repeat border-image-slice border-image-source border-image-width border-left border-left-color border-left-style border-left-width border-radius border-right border-right-color border-right-style border-right-width border-spacing border-style border-top border-top-color border-top-left-radius border-top-right-radius border-top-style border-top-width border-width bottom box-decoration-break box-shadow box-sizing caption-side caret-color @charset clear clip clip-path color column-count column-fill column-gap column-rule column-rule-color column-rule-style column-rule-width column-span column-width columns content counter-increment counter-reset cursor direction display empty-cells filter flex flex-basis flex-direction flex-flow flex-grow flex-shrink flex-wrap float font @font-face font-family font-kerning font-size font-size-adjust font-stretch font-style font-variant font-weight grid grid-area grid-auto-columns grid-auto-flow grid-auto-rows grid-column grid-column-end grid-column-gap grid-column-start grid-gap grid-row grid-row-end grid-row-gap grid-row-start grid-template grid-template-areas grid-template-columns grid-template-rows hanging-punctuation height hyphens @import isolation justify-content @keyframes left letter-spacing line-height list-style list-style-image list-style-position list-style-type margin margin-bottom margin-left margin-right margin-top max-height max-width @media min-height min-width mix-blend-mode object-fit object-position opacity order outline outline-color outline-offset outline-style outline-width overflow overflow-x overflow-y padding padding-bottom padding-left padding-right padding-top page-break-after page-break-before page-break-inside perspective perspective-origin pointer-events position quotes resize right scroll-behavior tab-size table-layout text-align text-align-last text-decoration text-decoration-color text-decoration-line text-decoration-style text-indent text-justify text-overflow text-shadow text-transform top transform transform-origin transform-style transition transition-delay transition-duration transition-property transition-timing-function unicode-bidi user-select vertical-align visibility white-space width word-break word-spacing word-wrap writing-mode z-index



CSS @media Rule


Example

Change the background color of the <body> element to "lightblue" when the browser window is 600px wide or less:

@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
  body {
    background-color: lightblue;
  }
}
Try it Yourself »

More "Try it Yourself" examples below.


Definition and Usage

The @media rule is used in media queries to apply different styles for different media types/devices.

Media queries can be used to check many things, such as:

  • width and height of the viewport
  • width and height of the device
  • orientation (is the tablet/phone in landscape or portrait mode?)
  • resolution

Using media queries are a popular technique for delivering a tailored style sheet (responsive web design) to desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.

You can also use media queries to specify that certain styles are only for printed documents or for screen readers (mediatype: print, screen, or speech).

In addition to media types, there are also media features. Media features provide more specific details to media queries, by allowing to test for a specific feature of the user agent or display device. For example, you can apply styles to only those screens that are greater, or smaller, than a certain width.


Browser Support

The numbers in the table specifies the first browser version that fully supports the @media rule.

Property
@media 21 9 3.5 4.0 9


CSS Syntax

@media not|only mediatype and (mediafeature and|or|not mediafeature) {
  CSS-Code;
}

meaning of the not, only and and keywords:

not: The not keyword reverts the meaning of an entire media query.

only: The only keyword prevents older browsers that do not support media queries with media features from applying the specified styles. It has no effect on modern browsers.

and: The and keyword combines a media feature with a media type or other media features.

They are all optional. However, if you use not or only, you must also specify a media type.

You can also have different stylesheets for different media, like this:

<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen and (min-width: 900px)" href="widescreen.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen and (max-width: 600px)" href="smallscreen.css">
....

Media Types

Value Description
all Default. Used for all media type devices
print Used for printers
screen Used for computer screens, tablets, smart-phones etc.
speech Used for screenreaders that "reads" the page out loud

Media Features

Value Description
any-hover Does any available input mechanism allow the user to hover over elements? (added in Media Queries Level 4)
any-pointer Is any available input mechanism a pointing device, and if so, how accurate is it? (added in Media Queries Level 4)
aspect-ratio The ratio between the width and the height of the viewport
color The number of bits per color component for the output device
color-gamut The approximate range of colors that are supported by the user agent and output device (added in Media Queries Level 4)
color-index The number of colors the device can display
grid Whether the device is a grid or bitmap
height The viewport height
hover Does the primary input mechanism allow the user to hover over elements? (added in Media Queries Level 4)
inverted-colors Is the browser or underlying OS inverting colors? (added in Media Queries Level 4)
light-level Current ambient light level (added in Media Queries Level 4)
max-aspect-ratio The maximum ratio between the width and the height of the display area
max-color The maximum number of bits per color component for the output device
max-color-index The maximum number of colors the device can display
max-height The maximum height of the display area, such as a browser window
max-monochrome The maximum number of bits per "color" on a monochrome (greyscale) device
max-resolution The maximum resolution of the device, using dpi or dpcm
max-width The maximum width of the display area, such as a browser window
min-aspect-ratio The minimum ratio between the width and the height of the display area
min-color The minimum number of bits per color component for the output device
min-color-index The minimum number of colors the device can display
min-height The minimum height of the display area, such as a browser window
min-monochrome The minimum number of bits per "color" on a monochrome (greyscale) device
min-resolution The minimum resolution of the device, using dpi or dpcm
min-width The minimum width of the display area, such as a browser window
monochrome The number of bits per "color" on a monochrome (greyscale) device
orientation The orientation of the viewport (landscape or portrait mode)
overflow-block How does the output device handle content that overflows the viewport along the block axis (added in Media Queries Level 4)
overflow-inline Can content that overflows the viewport along the inline axis be scrolled (added in Media Queries Level 4)
pointer Is the primary input mechanism a pointing device, and if so, how accurate is it? (added in Media Queries Level 4)
resolution The resolution of the output device, using dpi or dpcm
scan The scanning process of the output device
scripting Is scripting (e.g. JavaScript) available? (added in Media Queries Level 4)
update How quickly can the output device modify the appearance of the content (added in Media Queries Level 4)
width The viewport width

More Examples

Example

Hide an element when the browser's width is 600px wide or less:

@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
  div.example {
    display: none;
  }
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Use mediaqueries to set the background-color to lavender if the viewport is 800 pixels wide or wider, to lightgreen if the viewport is between 400 and 799 pixels wide. If the viewport is smaller than 400 pixels, the background-color is lightblue:

body {
  background-color: lightblue;
}

@media screen and (min-width: 400px) {
  body {
    background-color: lightgreen;
  }
}

@media screen and (min-width: 800px) {
  body {
    background-color: lavender;
  }
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Create a responsive navigation menu (displayed horizontally on large screens and vertically on small screens):

@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
  .topnav a {
    float: none;
    width: 100%;
  }
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Use media queries to create a responsive column layout:

/* On screens that are 992px wide or less, go from four columns to two columns */
@media screen and (max-width: 992px) {
  .column {
    width: 50%;
  }
}

/* On screens that are 600px wide or less, make the columns stack on top of each other instead of next to each other */
@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
  .column {
    width: 100%;
  }
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Use media queries to create a responsive website:

Try it Yourself »

Example

Media queries can also be used to change layout of a page depending on the orientation of the browser. You can have a set of CSS properties that will only apply when the browser window is wider than its height, a so called "Landscape" orientation.

Use a lightblue background color if the orientation is in landscape mode:

@media only screen and (orientation: landscape) {
  body {
    background-color: lightblue;
  }
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Use mediaqueries to set the text color to green when the document is displayed on the screen, and to black when it is printed:

@media screen {
  body {
    color: green;
  }
}

@media print {
  body {
    color: black;
  }
}
Try it Yourself »

Example

Comma separated list: add an additional media query to an already existing one, using a comma (this will behave like an OR operator):

/* When the width is between 600px and 900px OR above 1100px - change the appearance of <div> */
@media screen and (max-width: 900px) and (min-width: 600px), (min-width: 1100px) {
  div.example {
    font-size: 50px;
    padding: 50px;
    border: 8px solid black;
    background: yellow;
  }
}
Try it Yourself »

Related Pages

CSS Tutorial: CSS Media Queries

CSS Tutorial: CSS Media Queries Examples

RWD Tutorial: Responsive Web Design with Media Queries

JavaScript Tutorial: The window.matchMedia() method