background-repeat

The background-repeat CSS property sets how background images are repeated. A background image can be repeated along the horizontal and vertical axes, or not repeated at all.

Try it

By default, the repeated images are clipped to the size of the element, but they can be scaled to fit (using round) or evenly distributed from end to end (using space).

Syntax

css
/* Keyword values */
background-repeat: repeat-x;
background-repeat: repeat-y;
background-repeat: repeat;
background-repeat: space;
background-repeat: round;
background-repeat: no-repeat;

/* Two-value syntax: horizontal | vertical */
background-repeat: repeat space;
background-repeat: repeat repeat;
background-repeat: round space;
background-repeat: no-repeat round;

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

Values

<repeat-style>

The one-value syntax is a shorthand for the full two-value syntax:

Single value Two-value equivalent
repeat-x repeat no-repeat
repeat-y no-repeat repeat
repeat repeat repeat
space space space
round round round
no-repeat no-repeat no-repeat

In the two-value syntax, the first value represents the horizontal repetition behavior and the second value represents the vertical behavior. Here is an explanation of how each option works for either direction:

repeat The image is repeated as much as needed to cover the whole background image painting area. The last image will be clipped if it doesn't fit.
space The image is repeated as much as possible without clipping. The first and last images are pinned to either side of the element, and whitespace is distributed evenly between the images. The background-position property is ignored unless only one image can be displayed without clipping. The only case where clipping happens using space is when there isn't enough room to display one image.
round As the allowed space increases in size, the repeated images will stretch (leaving no gaps) until there is room (space left >= half of the image width) for another one to be added. When the next image is added, all of the current ones compress to allow room. Example: An image with an original width of 260px, repeated three times, might stretch until each repetition is 300px wide, and then another image will be added. They will then compress to 225px.
no-repeat The image is not repeated (and hence the background image painting area will not necessarily be entirely covered). The position of the non-repeated background image is defined by the background-position CSS property.

Formal definition

Initial valuerepeat
Applies toall elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inheritedno
Computed valuea list, each item consisting of two keywords, one per dimension
Animation typediscrete

Formal syntax

background-repeat = 
  <repeat-style>#  

<repeat-style> = 
  repeat-x                                     |
  repeat-y                                     |
  [ repeat | space | round | no-repeat ]{1,2}

Examples

Setting background-repeat

HTML

html
<ol>
  <li>
    no-repeat
    <div class="one"></div>
  </li>
  <li>
    repeat
    <div class="two"></div>
  </li>
  <li>
    repeat-x
    <div class="three"></div>
  </li>
  <li>
    repeat-y
    <div class="four"></div>
  </li>
  <li>
    space
    <div class="five"></div>
  </li>
  <li>
    round
    <div class="six"></div>
  </li>
  <li>
    repeat-x, repeat-y (multiple images)
    <div class="seven"></div>
  </li>
</ol>

CSS

css
/* Shared for all DIVS in example */
ol,
li {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}
li {
  margin-bottom: 12px;
}
div {
  background-image: url(starsolid.gif);
  width: 160px;
  height: 70px;
}

/* Background repeats */
.one {
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
.two {
  background-repeat: repeat;
}
.three {
  background-repeat: repeat-x;
}
.four {
  background-repeat: repeat-y;
}
.five {
  background-repeat: space;
}
.six {
  background-repeat: round;
}

/* Multiple images */
.seven {
  background-image: url(starsolid.gif), url(favicon32.png);
  background-repeat: repeat-x, repeat-y;
  height: 144px;
}

Result

In this example, each list item is matched with a different value of background-repeat.

Specifications

Specification
CSS Backgrounds and Borders Module Level 3
# the-background-repeat

Browser compatibility

Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
background-repeat
Two-value syntax (different values for x & y directions)
Multiple backgrounds
no-repeat
repeat
repeat-x
repeat-y
round
space

See also