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css property

`font-width` CSS property

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Limited availability

[!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.

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.
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

/* 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 &lt;percentage&gt; 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 &lt;percentage&gt; 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:

KeywordPercentage
ultra-condensed50%
extra-condensed62.5%
condensed75%
semi-condensed87.5%
normal100%
semi-expanded112.5%
expanded125%
extra-expanded150%
ultra-expanded200%

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:

@font-face {
  font-family: "Inconsolata";
  src: url("https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/inconsolata/v31/QlddNThLqRwH-OJ1UHjlKENVzlm-WkL3GZQmAwPyya15.woff2")
    format("woff2");
}

@font-face {
  font-family: "Anek Malayalam";
  src: url("https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/anekmalayalam/v4/6qLUKZActRTs_mZAJUZWWkhke0nYa-f6__Azq3-gP1W7db9_.woff2")
    format("woff2");
}

body {
  font-family: system-ui;
}

table {
  border-collapse: collapse;
  width: 100%;
}

tbody th {
  text-align: right;
}

th,
td {
  padding: 0.25rem;
  font-weight: normal;
  text-align: center;
}

td {
  border: solid;
  border-width: 1px;
  font-size: 5rem;
}

.inconsolata {
  font-family: "Inconsolata", sans-serif;
}

.anek-malayalam {
  font-family: "Anek Malayalam", sans-serif;
}

td:nth-child(2) {
  font-width: 50%;
}
td:nth-child(3) {
  font-width: 62.5%;
}
td:nth-child(4) {
  font-width: 75%;
}
td:nth-child(5) {
  font-width: 87.5%;
}
td:nth-child(6) {
  font-width: 100%;
}
td:nth-child(7) {
  font-width: 112.5%;
}
td:nth-child(8) {
  font-width: 125%;
}
td:nth-child(9) {
  font-width: 150%;
}
td:nth-child(10) {
  font-width: 200%;
}

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th scope="row"></th>
      <th scope="col">50%</th>
      <th scope="col">62.5%</th>
      <th scope="col">75%</th>
      <th scope="col">87.5%</th>
      <th scope="col">100%</th>
      <th scope="col">112.5%</th>
      <th scope="col">125%</th>
      <th scope="col">150%</th>
      <th scope="col">200%</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr class="inconsolata">
      <th scope="row">Inconsolata</th>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
    </tr>
    <tr class="anek-malayalam">
      <th scope="row">Anek Malayalam</th>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
      <td>e</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

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

Formal syntax

font-width

Examples

Setting font width percentages

<p class="condensed">an elephantine lizard</p>
<p class="normal">an elephantine lizard</p>
<p class="expanded">an elephantine lizard</p>

@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%;
}
Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

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:

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

SpecificationsStandards references are available on the canonical MDN page.

Browser compatibility

Browser compatibilityCompatibility data is available on the canonical MDN page.

See also