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Summary

The min-width property is used to set the minimum width of a given element. It prevents the used value of the width property from becoming smaller than the value specified for min-width.

 The element width is set to the value of min-width whenever min-width is larger than max-width or whenever min-width is larger than width

Initial value0
Applies toall elements but non-replaced inline elements, table rows, and row groups
Inheritedno
Percentagesrefer to the width of the containing block
Mediavisual
Computed valuethe percentage as specified or the absolute length
Animatableyes, as a length, percentage or calc(); when both values are lengths, they are interpolated as lengths; when both values are percentages, they are interpolated as percentages; otherwise, both values are converted into a calc() function that is the sum of a length and a percentage (each possibly zero), and these calc() functions have each half interpolated as real numbers.
Canonical orderthe unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

/* <length> value */
min-width: 3.5em;

/* <percentage> value */
min-width: 10%;

/* Keyword values */
min-width: max-content;
min-width: min-content;
min-width: fit-content;
min-width: fill-available;

/* Global values */
min-width: inherit;
min-width: initial;
min-width: unset;

Values

<length>
The fixed minimum width. See <length> for possible units. Negative values make the declaration invalid.
<percentage>
The fixed minimum width expressed as a <percentage> of containing block's width. Negative values make the declaration invalid.
auto
The default minimum size for flex items, providing a more reasonable default than 0 for other layouts.
max-content
The intrinsic preferred width.
min-content
The intrinsic minimum width.
fill-available
The containing block width minus horizontal margin, border and padding. Some browsers implement an ancient name for this keyword, available.
fit-content
Defined as min(max-content, max(min-content, fill-available).

Formal syntax

<length> | <percentage> | auto | max-content | min-content | fit-content | fill-available

Examples

table { min-width: 75%; }

form { min-width: 0; }

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
CSS Intrinsic & Extrinsic Sizing Module Level 3
The definition of 'min-width' in that specification.
Working Draft Adds the max-content, min-content, fit-content, and fill-available keywords. (At some times in the past, both CSS3 Box and CSS3 Writing Modes drafts defined these keywords. These drafts has been superseded by this specification.)
CSS Flexible Box Layout Module
The definition of 'min-width' in that specification.
Candidate Recommendation Added the auto keyword and used it as the initial value.
CSS Transitions
The definition of 'min-width' in that specification.
Working Draft Defines min-width as animatable.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1)
The definition of 'min-width' in that specification.
Recommendation Initial definition

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support 1.0 1.0 (1.0) 7.0 4.0 2.0.2 (416), buggy before
applies to <table> [1] No support (Yes) No support (Yes) No support
max-content, min-content, fit-content, and fill-available 24.0 -webkit [3] 3.0 (1.9) -moz [2] No support No support No support [3]
auto 21.0 [4] 16.0 (16.0) [4]
Removed in 22.0 (22.0)
Reintroduced in 34.0 (34.0) with the new behavior defined by the spec.
No support 12.10 [6] No support
auto as initial value 21.0 18.0 (18.0)
Removed in 22.0 (22.0)
No support 12.10 No support
Feature Android Chrome for Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support ? ? ? ? ? ?
applies to <table> [1] ? ? ? ? ? ?
max-content, min-content, fit-content, and fill-available ? ? ? ? ? ?
auto ? ? ? ? ? ?
auto as initial value ? ? ? ? ? ?

[1] CSS 2.1 explicitly leaves the behavior of min-width with <table> undefined. Therefore any behavior is CSS2.1-compliant; newer CSS specifications may define this behavior, so Web developers shouldn't rely on a specific one now.

[2] Gecko experimentally implements the definitions given in CSS3 Basic Box. This one defines available and not fill-available. Also the definition of fit-content is simpler than in CSS3 Intrinsic.

[3] WebKit also implements an earlier proposal, the keyword intrinsic.

[4] These implementations where implementing a slightly simpler behavior for this keyword: it computed to min-content on flex items, and it computes to 0 on everything else.

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Last updated by: dmitriz,