CSS perspective

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The CSS perspective property is used to adjust the position of a 3D element in relation to the user in order to provide a 3D perspective.

More specifically, the property adjusts the position of an element's child elements. Therefore, apply this property to an element's parent element in order to see the effect on the child element.

The perspective property defines the intensity of the 3D effect. This is because it defines how far the object is away from the user. So, a lower value will result in a more intensive 3D effect than a higher value. This is because the lower value indicates that the user is closer to the object. Therefore, perspective: 50px; will result in a more obvious 3D effect than perspective: 500px;.

Use this property in conjunction with the perspective-origin property, which determines the vanishing point for the 3D effect. By default, the vanishing point of the perspective property is at the center.

Syntax

Possible Values

none
Specifies that no perspective transform is applied.
<length>
Specifies the distance from the user to the z=0 plane. It used to apply a perspective transform to the element and its content. If this value is 0 or a negative value, no perspective transform is applied.

In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:

initial
Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit
Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset
This value acts as either inherit or initial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.

Basic Property Information

Initial Value
none
Applies To
This property applies only to transformable elements.

In HTML, a transformable element is either:

  • a block-level or atomic inline-level element
  • or whose CSS display property computes to table-row, table-row-group, table-header-group, table-footer-group, table-cell, or table-caption

In SVG, a transformable element is an element which has the attributes transform, patternTransform or gradientTransform.

Inherited?
No
Media
Visual
Computed Value
Absolute length or "none".
Animatable
Yes (see example)

Example Code

Basic CSS

Working Example within an HTML Document

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CSS Specifications

Browser Support

Browser support for CSS properties can vary, particularly for newer or experimental features. Check current browser compatibility before using a property in production, especially when supporting older browsers.

The following table provided by Caniuse.com shows the level of browser support for this feature.

Initial Value

CSS properties have an initial value that applies when the property has not been explicitly set. The initial value is different from the value inherited from a parent element and may vary between properties.

Inheritance

Some CSS properties inherit their computed value from their parent element by default, while others do not. The inherit, initial, unset, and revert keywords can also be used to control how a property gets its value.

Vendor Prefixes

Most modern CSS properties use the standard, unprefixed syntax. Vendor-prefixed properties such as -webkit- are mainly relevant to older browser versions or specific features and should only be used when required by your browser support targets.

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