max-height

The max-height property is used to set the maximum height of an element. It prevents the used value of the height property from becoming larger than the value specified for max-height.

max-height overrides height, but min-height overrides max-height.

Initial value	none
Applies to	all elements but non-replaced inline elements, table columns, and column groups
Inherited	no
Percentages	The percentage is calculated with respect to the height of the generated box's containing block. If the height of the containing block is not specified explicitly (i.e., it depends on content height), and this element is not absolutely positioned, the percentage value is treated as none.
Media	visual
Computed value	the percentage as specified or the absolute length or none
Animation type	a length, percentage or calc();
Canonical order	the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

/* <length> value */
max-height: 3.5em;

/* <percentage> value */
max-height: 75%;

/* Keyword values */
max-height: none;
max-height: max-content;
max-height: min-content;
max-height: fit-content;
max-height: fill-available;

/* Global values */
max-height: inherit;
max-height: initial;
max-height: unset;

Values

<length>

A fixed maximum height. See <length> for possible units.

<percentage>

The <percentage> is calculated with respect to the height of the containing block. If the height of the containing block is not specified explicitly, the percentage value is treated as zero.

none

No limit on the height of the box.

max-content

The intrinsic preferred height.

min-content

The intrinsic minimum height.

fill-available

The containing block height minus vertical margin, border and padding. Some browsers implement an ancient name for this keyword, available.

fit-content

The same as max-content.

Formal syntax

<length> | <percentage> | none | max-content | min-content | fit-content | fill-available

Examples

table { max-height: 75%; }

form { max-height: none; }

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Intrinsic & Extrinsic Sizing Module Level 3 The definition of 'max-height' in that specification.	Working Draft	Adds the max-content, min-content, fit-content, and fill-available keywords. Both CSS3 Box and CSS3 Writing Modes drafts defined at some point these keywords. These drafts are superseded by this spec.
CSS Transitions The definition of 'max-height' in that specification.	Working Draft	Defines max-height as animatable.
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'max-height' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

[1] CSS 2.1 explicitely leaves the behavior of max-height with <table> undefined. Therefore any behavior is CSS2.1-compliant; newer CSS specifications may define this behavior, so Web developers shouldn't rely on a specific one now.

[2] Gecko experimentally implements the definitions given in CSS3 Basic Box. This one defines available and not fill-available. Also the definition of fit-content is simpler than in CSS3 Sizing.

[3] WebKit implements an earlier proposal for setting the height to an intrinsic height: the keywords intrinsic, instead of max-content, and min-intrinsic, instead of min-content. There is no equivalent for fill-available or fit-content.

See also

• The box model
• max-width, box-sizing, height, min-height