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HTML Picture Element


The picture element allows us to display different pictures for different devices or screen sizes.



The HTML <picture> Element

HTML5 introduced the <picture> element to add more flexibility when specifying image resources.

The <picture> element contains a number of <source> elements, each referring to different image sources. This way the browser can choose the image that best fits the current view and/or device.

Each <source> element have attributes describing when their image is the most suitable.

Example

Show different images on different screen sizes:

<picture>
  <source media="(min-width: 650px)" srcset="img_food.jpg">
  <source media="(min-width: 465px)" srcset="img_car.jpg">
  <img src="img_girl.jpg">
</picture>
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Note: Always specify an <img> element as the last child element of the <picture> element. The <img> element is used by browsers that do not support the <picture> element, or if none of the <source> tags matched.


When to use the Picture Element

There are two main purposes for the <picture> element:

1. Bandwidth

If you have a small screen or device, it is not necessary to load a large image file. The browser will use the first <source> element with matching attribute values, and ignore any of the following elements.

2. Format Support

Some browsers or devices may not support all image formats. By using the <picture> element, you can add images of all formats, and the browser will use the first format it recognizes and ignore any of the following.

Example

The browser will use the first image format it recognizes:

<picture>
  <source srcset="img_avatar.png">
  <source srcset="img_girl.jpg">
  <img src="img_beatles.gif" alt="Beatles" style="width:auto;">
</picture>
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Note: The browser will use the first <source> element with matching attribute values, and ignore any following <source> elements.