background-position-y

Baseline Widely available *

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2016.

* Some parts of this feature may have varying levels of support.

The background-position-y CSS property sets the initial vertical position for each background image. The position is relative to the position layer set by background-origin.

Try it

background-position-y: top;

background-position-y: center;

background-position-y: 25%;

background-position-y: 2rem;

background-position-y: bottom 32px;

<section class="display-block" id="default-example">
  <div class="transition-all" id="example-element"></div>
</section>

#example-element {
  background-color: navajowhite;
  background-image: url("/shared-assets/images/examples/star.png");
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  height: 100%;
}

The value of this property is overridden by any declaration of the background or background-position shorthand properties applied to the element after it.

Syntax

/* Keyword values */
background-position-y: top;
background-position-y: center;
background-position-y: bottom;

/* <percentage> values */
background-position-y: 25%;

/* <length> values */
background-position-y: 0px;
background-position-y: 1cm;
background-position-y: 8em;

/* Side-relative values */
background-position-y: bottom 3px;
background-position-y: bottom 10%;

/* Multiple values */
background-position-y: 0px, center;

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

The background-position-y property is specified as one or more values, separated by commas.

Values

top

Aligns the top edge of the background image with the top edge of the background position layer.

center

Aligns the vertical center of the background image with the vertical center of the background position layer.

bottom

Aligns the bottom edge of the background image with the bottom edge of the background position layer.

<length>

The offset of the given background image's horizontal edge from the corresponding background position layer's top horizontal edge. (Some browsers allow assigning the bottom edge for offset).

<percentage>

The offset of the given background image's vertical position relative to the container. A value of 0% means that the top edge of the background image is aligned with the top edge of the container, and a value of 100% means that the bottom edge of the background image is aligned with the bottom edge of the container, thus a value of 50% vertically centers the background image.

Formal definition

Initial value 0%
Applies to all elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inherited no
Percentages refer to height of background positioning area minus height of background image
Computed value A list, each item consisting of: an offset given as a combination of an absolute length and a percentage, plus an origin keyword
Animation type a repeatable list

Formal syntax

background-position-y = 
  [ center | [ [ top | bottom | y-start | y-end ]? <length-percentage>? ]! ]#  

<length-percentage> = 
  <length>      |
  <percentage>

Examples

Basic example

The following example shows a background image implementation, with background-position-x and background-position-y used to define the image's horizontal and vertical positions separately.

HTML

<div></div>

CSS

div {
  width: 300px;
  height: 300px;
  background-color: skyblue;
  background-image: url(https://mdn.dev/archives/media/attachments/2020/07/29/17350/3b4892b7e820122ac6dd7678891d4507/firefox.png);
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position-x: center;
  background-position-y: bottom;
}

Result

Side-relative values

The following example shows support for side-relative offset syntax, which allows the developer to offset the background from any edge.

HTML

<div></div>

CSS

div {
  width: 300px;
  height: 300px;
  background-color: seagreen;
  background-image: url(https://mdn.dev/archives/media/attachments/2020/07/29/17350/3b4892b7e820122ac6dd7678891d4507/firefox.png);
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position-x: right 20px;
  background-position-y: bottom 10px;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Backgrounds Module Level 4
# background-position-longhands

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Opera Safari Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet WebView Android
background-position-y 1 12 49 15 1 18 49 14 1 1.0 4.4
side-relative_values No 12–79 49 No 15.4 No 49 No 15.4 No No

See also

© 2005–2024 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/background-position-y