CSS background-origin Property

The CSS background-origin property specifies the background positioning area of a background-image.

The background-origin property is one of the CSS3 properties.

If the background-attachment is "fixed", background-origin property will be ignored and will not have an effect.

Initial Value	padding-box
Applies to	All elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inherited	No.
Animatable	No.
Version	CSS3
DOM Syntax	object.style.backgroundOrigin = "content-box";

Syntax

background-origin: padding-box | border-box | content-box | initial | inherit;

Example of the background-origin property:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>The title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .example1 {
        border: 5px dashed #666;
        padding: 35px;
        background: url("/uploads/media/default/0001/01/25acddb3da54207bc6beb5838f65f022feaa81d7.jpeg");
        background-repeat: no-repeat;
        background-origin: padding-box;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Background-origin property example</h2>
    <p>Here the background-origin is set to "border-box".</p>
    <div class="example1">
      <h2>Hello world.</h2>
      <p> Some text for example.</p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Result

Here is an example showing the difference between padding-box and content-box.

Example of the background-origin property with the "padding-box" and "content-box" values:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>The title of the document</title>
    <style>
      .example1 {
        border: 5px dashed #666;
        padding: 35px;
        background: url("/uploads/media/default/0001/01/b408569013c0bb32b2afb0f0d45e93e982347951.jpeg");
        background-repeat: no-repeat;
        background-origin: padding-box;
      }
      .example2 {
        border: 5px dashed #666;
        padding: 35px;
        background: url("/uploads/media/default/0001/01/b408569013c0bb32b2afb0f0d45e93e982347951.jpeg");
        background-repeat: no-repeat;
        background-origin: content-box;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Background-origin property example</h2>
    <p>Here the background-origin is set to "padding-box" which is the default value of this property.</p>
    <div class="example1">
      <h2>Hello  world</h2>
      <p> Some text for example.</p>
    </div>
    <p>Here the background-origin is set to "content-box".</p>
    <div class="example2">
      <h2>Hello  world</h2>
      <p> Some text for example.</p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

In example below see how to set two background images for a <div> element with different values.

Example of the background-origin property with different values:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>The title of the document</title>
    <style>
      #example1 {
        border: 5px double black;
        padding: 25px;
        background: url("/uploads/media/default/0001/02/55a2f152f59bf42a99b576d44a4578ec9daa0ab6.png"), url("/uploads/media/default/0001/02/aa55a168be25d7d121dcab8d67ad72ce021dcde3.png");
        background-repeat: no-repeat;
        background-origin: content-box, border-box;
      }
      #example2 {
        border: 5px double black;
        padding: 25px;
        background: url("/uploads/media/default/0001/02/55a2f152f59bf42a99b576d44a4578ec9daa0ab6.png"), url("/uploads/media/default/0001/02/aa55a168be25d7d121dcab8d67ad72ce021dcde3.png");
        background-repeat: no-repeat;
        background-origin: content-box, padding-box;
      }
      #example3 {
        border: 5px double black;
        padding: 25px;
        background: url("/uploads/media/default/0001/02/55a2f152f59bf42a99b576d44a4578ec9daa0ab6.png"), url("/uploads/media/default/0001/02/aa55a168be25d7d121dcab8d67ad72ce021dcde3.png");
        background-repeat: no-repeat;
        background-origin: content-box, content-box;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h2>Background-origin property example</h2>
    <p>Here the background-origin: content-box, border-box; is set:</p>
    <div id="example1">
      <h2>Hello World</h2>
      <p>The first background-image starts from the upper left corner of the border.</p>
      <p>The second background-image starts from the upper left corner of the content.</p>
    </div>
    <p>Here the background-origin: content-box, padding-box:</p>
    <div id="example2">
      <h2>Hello World</h2>
      <p>The first background image starts from the upper left corner of the padding edge.</p>
      <p>The second background-image starts from the upper left corner of the content.</p>
    </div>
    <p>Here the background-origin: content-box, content-box; is set:</p>
    <div id="example3">
      <h2>Hello World</h2>
      <p>Both background images start from the upper left corner of the content.</p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Values

Value	Description	Play it
border-box	The background-position is relative to the border and background-image starts from the upper left corner of the padding edge. This is the default value.	Play it »
padding-box	The background-position is relative to the padding box and background-image starts from the upper left corner of the border.	Play it »
content-box	The background-position is relative to the content box and background-image starts from the upper left corner of the content.	Play it »
initial	Sets the property to its default value.	Play it »
inherit	Inherits the property from its parent element.