scale()
Baseline Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2015.
The scale()
CSS function defines a transformation that resizes an element on the 2D
plane. Because the amount of scaling is defined by a vector [sx, sy], it can resize the horizontal and vertical dimensions at
different scales. Its result is a <transform-function>
data type.
Try it
This scaling transformation is characterized by a two-dimensional vector. Its coordinates define how much scaling is done in each direction. If both coordinates are equal, the scaling is uniform (isotropic) and the aspect ratio of the element is preserved (this is a homothetic transformation).
When a coordinate value is outside the [-1, 1] range, the element grows along that dimension; when inside, it
shrinks. A negative value results in a point reflection
in that dimension. The value 1
has no effect.
Note:
The scale()
function only scales in 2D. To scale in 3D, use
scale3d()
instead.
Syntax
The scale()
function is specified with either one or two values, which represent the amount of scaling
to be applied in each direction.
scale(sx)
scale(sx, sy)
Values
sx
-
A
<number>
or<percentage>
representing the abscissa (horizontal, x-component) of the scaling vector. sy
-
A
<number>
or<percentage>
representing the ordinate (vertical, y-component) of the scaling vector. If not defined, its default value issx
, resulting in a uniform scaling that preserves the element's aspect ratio.
Cartesian coordinates on ℝ^2 | Homogeneous coordinates on ℝℙ^2 | Cartesian coordinates on ℝ^3 | Homogeneous coordinates on ℝℙ^3 |
---|---|---|---|
[sx 0 0 sy 0 0] |
Accessibility
Scaling/zooming animations are problematic for accessibility, as they are a common trigger for certain types of migraine. If you need to include such animations on your website, you should provide a control to allow users to turn off animations, preferably site-wide.
Also, consider making use of the prefers-reduced-motion
media feature
— use it to write a media query that will turn off animations if the
user has reduced animation specified in their system preferences.
Find out more:
Examples
Scaling the X and Y dimensions together
HTML
<div>Normal</div>
<div class="scaled">Scaled</div>
CSS
div {
width: 80px;
height: 80px;
background-color: skyblue;
}
.scaled {
transform: scale(0.7); /* Equal to scaleX(0.7) scaleY(0.7) */
background-color: pink;
}
Result
Scaling X and Y dimensions separately, and translating the origin
HTML
<div>Normal</div>
<div class="scaled">Scaled</div>
CSS
div {
width: 80px;
height: 80px;
background-color: skyblue;
}
.scaled {
transform: scale(2, 0.5); /* Equal to scaleX(2) scaleY(0.5) */
transform-origin: left;
background-color: pink;
}
Result
Specifications
Specification |
---|
CSS Transforms Module Level 1 # funcdef-transform-scale |
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser