::view-transition-old() CSS pseudo-element
Baseline
2025
Newly available
Since October 2025, this feature works across the latest devices and browser versions. This feature might not work in older devices or browsers.
The ::view-transition-old() CSS pseudo-element represents the "old" view state of a view transition — a static snapshot of the old view, before the transition.
During a view transition, ::view-transition-old() is included in the associated pseudo-element tree as explained in The view transition pseudo-element tree, provided there's an "old" view state to represent. It is only ever a child of a ::view-transition-image-pair(), and never has any children.
It is a replaced element and therefore can be manipulated with properties such as object-fit and object-position. It has natural dimensions equal to the content's size.
The following default styling is included in the UA stylesheet:
:root::view-transition-old(*),
:root::view-transition-new(*) {
position: absolute;
inset-block-start: 0;
inline-size: 100%;
block-size: auto;
animation-duration: inherit;
animation-fill-mode: inherit;
animation-delay: inherit;
}
/* Keyframes for blending when there are 2 images */
@keyframes -ua-mix-blend-mode-plus-lighter {
from {
mix-blend-mode: plus-lighter;
}
to {
mix-blend-mode: plus-lighter;
}
}
@keyframes -ua-view-transition-fade-out {
to {
opacity: 0;
}
}
Note:
Additional view transition styles are also setup to animate ::view-transition-old(). These are dynamically generated during the view transition; see the specification setup transition pseudo-elements and update pseudo-element styles sections for more details.
Syntax
::view-transition-old([ <pt-name-selector> <pt-class-selector>? ] | <pt-class-selector>) {
/* ... */
}
Parameters
*-
The universal selector (
*) selects all view transition groups on a page. root-
Causes the pseudo-element to match the default
rootview transition snapshot group created by the user agent to contain the view transition for the overall page. This group includes any element not assigned to its own specific view transition snapshot group via theview-transition-nameproperty. <pt-name-selector>-
The
<custom-ident>set as the value of theview-transition-nameproperty. <pt-class-selector>-
The
<custom-ident>set as the value of theview-transition-classproperty preceded by a period (.).
Examples
figcaption {
view-transition-name: figure-caption;
}
@keyframes grow-x {
from {
transform: scaleX(0);
}
to {
transform: scaleX(1);
}
}
@keyframes shrink-x {
from {
transform: scaleX(1);
}
to {
transform: scaleX(0);
}
}
::view-transition-old(figure-caption),
::view-transition-new(figure-caption) {
height: auto;
right: 0;
left: auto;
transform-origin: right center;
}
::view-transition-old(figure-caption) {
animation: 0.25s linear both shrink-x;
}
::view-transition-new(figure-caption) {
animation: 0.25s 0.25s linear both grow-x;
}
Specifications
| Specification |
|---|
| CSS View Transitions Module Level 1 # ::view-transition-old |
Browser compatibility
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::view-transition-old()
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