letter-spacing

The letter-spacing CSS property specifies spacing behavior between text characters.

Initial value	normal
Applies to	all elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line.
Inherited	yes
Media	visual
Computed value	an optimum value consisting of either an absolute length or the keyword normal
Animation type	a length
Canonical order	the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

/* <length> values */
letter-spacing: 0.3em;
letter-spacing: 3px;
letter-spacing: .3px;

/* Keyword values */
letter-spacing: normal;

/* Global values */
letter-spacing: inherit;
letter-spacing: initial;
letter-spacing: unset;

Values

normal

The spacing is the normal spacing for the current font. Unlike a value of 0, this value allows the user agent to alter the space between characters in order to justify text.

<length>

Indicates inter-character space in addition to the default space between characters. Values may be negative, but there may be implementation-specific limits. User agents may not further increase or decrease the inter-character space in order to justify text.
See <length> values for possible units.

Formal syntax

normal | <length>

Examples

HTML Content

<p class="first-example"> letter spacing </p>
<p class="second-example"> letter spacing </p>
<p class="third-example"> letter spacing </p>
<p class="fourth-example"> letter spacing </p>

CSS Content

.first-example { letter-spacing: 0.4em; }
.second-example { letter-spacing: 1em; }
.third-example { letter-spacing: -0.05em; }
.fourth-example { letter-spacing: 6px; }

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Text Level 3 The definition of 'letter-spacing' in that specification.	Working Draft	No change
CSS Transitions The definition of 'letter-spacing' in that specification.	Working Draft	Defines letter-spacing as animatable.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'letter-spacing' in that specification.	Recommendation	No change
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition) The definition of 'letter-spacing' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial SVG definition
CSS Level 1 The definition of 'letter-spacing' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

See also

• font-kerning