CSS The object-fit Property

The CSS object-fit property is used to specify how an <img> or <video> should be resized to fit its container.

The CSS object-fit Property

The CSS object-fit property is used to specify how an <img> or <video> should be resized to fit its container.

This property tells the content to fill the container in a variety of ways; such as “preserve that aspect ratio” or “stretch up and take up as much space as possible”.

Look at the following image from Paris, which is 400×300 pixels:

However, if we style the image above to be 200×400 pixels, it will look like this:

img {
    width: 200px;
    height: 400px;
}

We see that the image is being squeezed to fit the container of 200×400 pixels, and its original aspect ratio is destroyed.

If we use object-fit: cover; it will cut off the sides of the image, preserving the aspect ratio, and also filling in the space, like this:

img {
    width: 200px;
    height: 400px;
    object-fit: cover;
}

Another Example

Here we have two images and we want them to fill the width of 50% of the browser window and 100% of the height.

In the following example we do NOT use object-fit, so when we resize the browser window, the aspect ratio of the images will be destroyed:

Example

In the next example, we use object-fit: cover;, so when we resize the browser window, the aspect ratio of the images is preserved:

Example

All Values of The CSS object-fit Property

The object-fit property can have the following values:

• fill – This is default. The replaced content is sized to fill the element’s content box. If necessary, the object will be stretched or squished to fit
• contain – The replaced content is scaled to maintain its aspect ratio while fitting within the element’s content box
• cover – The replaced content is sized to maintain its aspect ratio while filling the element’s entire content box. The object will be clipped to fit
• none – The replaced content is not resized
• scale-down – The content is sized as if none or contain were specified (would result in a smaller concrete object size)

The following example demonstrates all the possible values of the object-fit property:

.fill {object-fit: fill;}
.contain {object-fit: contain;}
.cover {object-fit: cover;}
.scale-down {object-fit: scale-down;}
.none {object-fit: none;}