CSS transition-duration

The CSS transition-duration property allows you to specify how long your transition will take to complete. This allows you to adjust the speed of the transition, so that the effect happens quickly, slowly, or somewhere in between.

The transition-duration property accepts a "time" value. For example, a value of 3s will result in a transition running for 3 seconds. By changing the value of the transition-duration property, you effectively change the speed at which your transition runs. A higher value results in a slower transition, whereas a smaller value results in a faster transition.

Without this property, your styles would change instantaneously - there would be no transition. This is also what would happen if the transition-duration was set to 0s, meaning that the transition takes zero seconds to complete (i.e. you would not see any transition take place).

Syntax

Possible Values

<time>

The period of time that the transition should take to complete. For example, a value of 2s means that the transition will take 2 seconds to complete. By default the value is 0s, meaning that the transition takes place in zero seconds (i.e. no transition). A negative value is treated as '0s'.

You can provide a different value for each of the properties listed (under the transition-property property) if you like. This will result in different properties transitioning at different speeds.

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

Example Code

Basic CSS

Working Example within an HTML Document

CSS Specifications

• The transition-duration property is defined in CSS Transitions Level 1.

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.