font-width CSS property

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

Note: The font-width property is the modern replacement for font-stretch, which is a legacy alias. While font-width is the specification's preferred name, font-stretch currently has broader browser support. Check the fallback example and browser compatibility table for details.

The font-width CSS property selects a normal, condensed, or expanded face from a font.

Try it

font-width: condensed;
font-width: expanded;
font-width: ultra-expanded;
font-width: 50%;
font-width: 100%;
font-width: 150%;
<section class="default-example" id="default-example">
  <p class="transition-all" id="example-element">
    London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in
    Lincoln's Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets
    as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it
    would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so,
    waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.
  </p>
</section>
@font-face {
  src: url("../../../../../../shared-assets/fonts/LeagueMono-VF.ttf") format("truetype");
  font-family: "League";
  font-style: normal;
  font-weight: normal;
}

section {
  font-size: 1.2em;
  font-family: "League", sans-serif;
}

Syntax

css
/* Keyword values */
font-width: normal;
font-width: ultra-condensed;
font-width: extra-condensed;
font-width: condensed;
font-width: semi-condensed;
font-width: semi-expanded;
font-width: expanded;
font-width: extra-expanded;
font-width: ultra-expanded;

/* Percentage values */
font-width: 50%;
font-width: 100%;
font-width: 200%;

/* Global values */
font-width: inherit;
font-width: initial;
font-width: revert;
font-width: revert-layer;
font-width: unset;

This property may be specified as a single keyword or <percentage> value.

Values

normal

Specifies a normally condensed font face.

semi-condensed, condensed, extra-condensed, ultra-condensed

Specifies a more condensed font face than normal, with ultra-condensed being the most condensed.

semi-expanded, expanded, extra-expanded, ultra-expanded

Specifies a more expanded font face than normal, with ultra-expanded being the most expanded.

<percentage>

A <percentage> value between 50% and 200% (inclusive). Negative values are not allowed for this property.

Keyword to numeric mapping

The table below shows the mapping between the keyword values and numeric percentages:

Keyword Percentage
ultra-condensed 50%
extra-condensed 62.5%
condensed 75%
semi-condensed 87.5%
normal 100%
semi-expanded 112.5%
expanded 125%
extra-expanded 150%
ultra-expanded 200%

Description

Some font families offer additional faces in which the characters are narrower than the normal face (condensed faces) or wider than the normal face (expanded faces).

You can use font-width to select a condensed or expanded face from such fonts. If the font you are using does not offer condensed or expanded faces, this property has no effect.

Font face selection

The face selected for a given value of font-width depends on the faces supported by the font in question. If the font does not provide a face that exactly matches the given value, then values less than 100% map to a condensed face, and values greater than or equal to 100% map to an expanded face.

The table below demonstrates the effect of setting different percentage values of font-width on two different fonts:

The following screenshot shows how the above table is rendered, in case your browser doesn't support the font-width property:

A two-row comparison table showing the lowercase letter e rendered at different widths (50%, 62.5%, 75%, 87.5%, 100%, 112.5%, 125%, 150%, 200%). The top row is labeled Inconsolata and the bottom row Anek Malayalam. Both fonts are sans-serif and Inconsolata's letters are slightly wider compared to Anek Malayalam's.

  • Inconsolata is a variable font that offers a continuous range of widths from 50% to 200%.
  • Anek Malayalam is a variable google font that supports widths from 75% to 125%. Values below and above this range select the closest matching font.

Formal definition

Initial valuenormal
Applies toall elements and text. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inheritedyes
Computed valuepercentage
Animation typeby computed value type

Formal syntax

font-width = 
normal |
<percentage [0,∞]> |
ultra-condensed |
extra-condensed |
condensed |
semi-condensed |
semi-expanded |
expanded |
extra-expanded |
ultra-expanded

Examples

Setting font width percentages

html
<p class="condensed">an elephantine lizard</p>
<p class="normal">an elephantine lizard</p>
<p class="expanded">an elephantine lizard</p>
css
@font-face {
  src: url("/shared-assets/fonts/LeagueMono-VF.ttf") format("truetype");
  font-family: "LeagueMonoVariable";
  font-style: normal;
}

p {
  font:
    1.5rem "LeagueMonoVariable",
    sans-serif;
}

.condensed {
  font-width: 50%;
}

.normal {
  font-width: 100%;
}

.expanded {
  font-width: 200%;
}

Providing a font-stretch fallback

Because font-width does not yet have broad browser support, you may want to include the legacy font-stretch property as a fallback. Place font-stretch before font-width so that supporting browsers use the modern property:

css
p {
  font-stretch: condensed; /* for browsers that don't support font-width */
  font-width: condensed;
}

Note: You can automate this fallback pattern using the postcss-preset-env plugin for PostCSS, which includes the postcss-font-width-property transform to convert font-width properties to font-stretch automatically.

Specifications

Specification
CSS Fonts Module Level 4
# propdef-font-width

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
font-width
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
condensed
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
expanded
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
extra-condensed
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
extra-expanded
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
normal
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
<percentage>
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
semi-condensed
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
semi-expanded
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
ultra-condensed
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
ultra-expanded
Experimental
Chrome – No support
Chrome
footnote No support
Edge – No support
Edge
footnote No support
Firefox – No support
Firefox
footnote No support
Opera – No support
Opera
footnote No support
Safari – Full support
Safari 18.4 (Release date: 2025-03-31)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – No support
Chrome Android
footnote No support
Firefox for Android – No support
Firefox for Android
footnote No support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android
footnote No support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – No support
WebView Android
footnote No support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
No support
No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

See also