min-width

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 value	`0`
Applies to	all elements but non-replaced inline elements, table rows, and row groups
Inherited	no
Percentages	refer to the width of the containing block
Media	visual
Computed value	the percentage as specified or the absolute length
Animatable	yes, 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 order	the 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

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.