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css property

`font-optical-sizing` CSS property

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The font-optical-sizing CSS property sets whether text rendering is optimized for viewing at different sizes.

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.
font-optical-sizing: auto;

font-optical-sizing: none;

<section id="default-example">
  <div id="example-element">
    <h2>Chapter 3</h2>
    <p>
      On this particular Thursday, something was moving quietly through the
      ionosphere many miles above the surface of the planet; several somethings
      in fact, several dozen huge yellow chunky slablike somethings, huge as
      office blocks, silent as birds.
    </p>
  </div>
</section>

@font-face {
  src: url("/shared-assets/fonts/variable-fonts/AmstelvarAlpha-VF.ttf");
  font-family: "Amstelvar";
  font-style: normal;
}

#example-element {
  font-family: "Amstelvar", serif;
  text-align: left;
}

#example-element h2 {
  font-size: 36px;
}

#example-element p {
  font-size: 12px;
}

Syntax

/* keyword values */
font-optical-sizing: none;
font-optical-sizing: auto; /* default */

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

Values

This property is specified as one of the following keyword values:

  • none
    • : The browser will not modify the shape of glyphs for optimal viewing.
  • auto
    • : The browser will modify the shape of glyphs for optimal viewing.

Description

Optical sizing is enabled by default for fonts that have an optical size variation axis. The optical size variation axis is represented by opsz in font-variation-settings.

When optical sizing is used, small text sizes are often rendered with thicker strokes and larger serifs, whereas larger text is often rendered more delicately with more contrast between thicker and thinner strokes.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

Examples

Disabling optical sizing

<p class="optical-sizing">
  This paragraph is optically sized. This is the default across browsers.
</p>

<p class="no-optical-sizing">
  This paragraph is not optically sized. You should see a difference in
  supporting browsers.
</p>

@font-face {
  src: url("AmstelvarAlpha-VF.ttf");
  font-family: "Amstelvar";
  font-style: normal;
}

p {
  font-size: 36px;
  font-family: "Amstelvar", serif;
}

.no-optical-sizing {
  font-optical-sizing: none;
}

[!NOTE] The font referenced above — which includes optical sizing and is freely-licensed — is good for testing. You can download it on GitHub.

Specifications

SpecificationsStandards references are available on the canonical MDN page.

Browser compatibility

Browser compatibilityCompatibility data is available on the canonical MDN page.

See also