`<meta name="referrer">` HTML attribute value

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since January 2020.

See full compatibility

The referrer value for the name attribute of the <meta> element controls the HTTP Referer header of requests sent from the document. If specified, you define the referrer using a content attribute in the <meta> element as a keyword value.

For example, the following <meta> element sends the origin of the document as the referrer:

html

<meta name="referrer" content="origin" />

Warning: Dynamically inserting <meta name="referrer"> (with document.write() or appendChild()) makes the referrer behavior unpredictable. When several conflicting policies are defined, the no-referrer policy is applied.

Usage notes

A <meta name="referrer"> element has the following additional attributes:

content

Sets the document referrer. You must define this attribute. Accepts one of the following values:

no-referrer: Does not send an HTTP Referer header.
origin: Sends the origin of the document.
no-referrer-when-downgrade: Sends the full URL when the destination is at least as secure as the current page (HTTP(S)→HTTPS), but sends no referrer when it's less secure (HTTPS→HTTP). This is the default behavior.
origin-when-cross-origin: Sends the full URL (stripped of parameters) for same-origin requests, but only sends the origin for other cases.
same-origin: Sends the full URL (stripped of parameters) for same-origin requests. Cross-origin requests will contain no referrer header.
strict-origin: Sends the origin when the destination is at least as secure as the current page (HTTP(S)→HTTPS), but sends no referrer when it's less secure (HTTPS→HTTP).
strict-origin-when-cross-origin: Sends the full URL (stripped of parameters) for same-origin requests. Sends the origin when the destination is at least as secure as the current page (HTTP(S)→HTTPS). Otherwise, sends no referrer.
unsafe-URL: Sends the full URL (stripped of parameters) for same-origin or cross-origin requests.

Examples

Removing a referrer from requests

The following <meta> element specifies that the document shouldn't send a Referer header with HTTP requests from the document:

html

<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer" />

Specifications

Specification
HTML # meta-referrer

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
`referrer`	Chrome – Full support Chrome 17 (Release date: 2012-02-08) footnote footnote Until Chrome 46, `content` values weren't constrained to the values listed in the spec.	Edge – Full support Edge 79 (Release date: 2020-01-15) footnote Full support	Firefox – Full support Firefox 36 (Release date: 2015-02-24) footnote footnote The `referrer` value wasn't taken into account when navigation was happening via the context menu or middle click until Firefox 39.	Opera – Full support Opera 15 (Release date: 2013-07-02) footnote footnote Until Opera 33, `content` values weren't constrained to the values listed in the spec.	Safari – Full support Safari 11.1 (Release date: 2018-04-12) footnote Full support	Chrome Android – Full support Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27) footnote footnote Until Chrome Android 46, `content` values weren't constrained to the values listed in the spec.	Firefox for Android – Full support Firefox for Android 36 (Release date: 2015-02-27) footnote footnote The `referrer` value wasn't taken into account when navigation was happening via the context menu or middle click until Firefox for Android 39.	Opera Android – Full support Opera Android 14 (Release date: 2013-05-21) footnote footnote Until Opera Android 33, `content` values weren't constrained to the values listed in the spec.	Safari on iOS – Full support Safari on iOS 12 (Release date: 2018-09-17) footnote Full support	Samsung Internet – Full support Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27) footnote footnote Until Samsung Internet 5.0, `content` values weren't constrained to the values listed in the spec.	WebView Android – Full support WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09) footnote footnote Until WebView Android 46, `content` values weren't constrained to the values listed in the spec.	WebView on iOS – Full support WebView on iOS 12 (Release date: 2018-09-17) footnote Full support

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Full support: Full support
: See implementation notes.

<meta name="referrer"> HTML attribute value