Background image transparency with CSS3?

Question

Is there a way to add transparency to a background-image using CSS3?

What do you mean by adding transparency? Do you want to add an alpha channel, turn a specific color to an alpha channel, or make the entire image semi-transparent? — BoltClock, Jan 01 '12 at 05:36
Create a JSFiddle so we can show you using an example how to apply it to your code. JSFiddles make everything easier and when asking a web development question on here you should always use it. www.jsfiddle.net — Mark Kramer, Jan 01 '12 at 05:45
Creating a jsFiddle wouldn't have been necessary.. I just wanted to know if it was possible, I didn't actually have a use for this. — Alice, Jun 21 '13 at 09:06
This is what you want http://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/transparent-background-images/ :) — Aamir Afridi, Mar 05 '14 at 11:53

Mark Kramer · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-01T16:02:01.673

16

If you are using an image tag to set the image, it can be easily changed using the CSS3 property "opacity".

It is written like this:

img {
    opacity: 0.4;
    filter: alpha(opacity = 40); /* For IE */
}

the value for opacity must be between 0 and 1. 0 being invisible and 1 being opaque.

If you are applying the background image by using the CSS "background-image" property then you can still use the opacity to change the background image but it must be done in a different way.

This is because the opacity value changes the opacity on the entire element when you only want the opacity changed on the background image.

There is an easy way to work around this: just overlay the content over the image and wrap them in a common parent and apply the opacity change to only the background part:

HTML

<div id="container">
    <div id="background" class="translucent"></div>
    <div id="content"></div>
</div>

CSS

.translucent {
    opacity: 0.4;
    filter: alpha(opacity = 40); /* For IE */
}
#container {
    position: relative;
    width: 200px;
    height: 200px;
}
#background, #content {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
}
#background {
    background-image: url(http://www.thisisfake.com);
}

edited Jan 01 '12 at 16:02

answered Jan 01 '12 at 05:51

Mark Kramer

3,134
7
34
52

2

Unlike `opacity`, `background-image` isn't new to CSS3 — it's been there since the beginning. – BoltClock Jan 01 '12 at 06:04
31

I'm actually a bit shocked there's no `background-image-opacity` or something in CSS3. – Wesley Murch Jan 01 '12 at 06:24
@Madmartigan Wouldn't that be helpful? =p – Mark Kramer Jan 01 '12 at 18:41
@WesleyMurch: not shocking considering there is _still_ no native layout element in HTML5 (not to be confused with ).
– Den Aug 27 '13 at 11:12
Why introduce a new element instead of fixing/rearchitecting ?
– Dom Vinyard Dec 11 '13 at 12:00
@WesleyMurch Try this http://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/transparent-background-images/ :) – Aamir Afridi Mar 05 '14 at 11:53
@Aamir Afridi You know that's the exact same thing that's in my answer, right? They just used div::after instead of a different element. Which I didn't know you could do. – Mark Kramer Mar 05 '14 at 18:28

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 19 '13 at 03:47

5

You can also accomplish a transarent background image using the css3 pseudo classes and opacity. For example....

HTML:

<div class="transparent-background">
        ...content that should have 100% opacity...
</div>

CSS:

.transparent-background { ... }
.transparent-background:after {
    background: url("../images/yourimage.jpg") repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;
    opacity: 0.5;
    bottom: 0;
    content: "";
    left: 0;
    position: absolute;
    right: 0;
    top: 0;
    z-index: 0;
}

See the sample - http://jsfiddle.net/sjLww/

answered Jun 19 '13 at 03:47

corradomatt

166
2
10

Awesome. This seems to work nicely. What is browser support like? – m3z Dec 06 '14 at 16:35
Darn. Just realised that the inserted content is over the top of the rest of my content preventing me from clicking links. Doesn't seem to be resolvable with z-index though please do correct me if I am wrong there. – m3z Dec 06 '14 at 17:24

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 03 '17 at 10:31

5

Add the image to the HTML tag and add a background-color using rgba(0,0,0,[your opacity])

html {
    background:url('image.jpg') #303030; 
    background-size:cover;
}

body {
    background:rgba(0,0,0,0.7);
}

edited Apr 03 '17 at 10:31

Alex Cio

6,014
5
44
74

answered Jul 02 '13 at 00:46

Michael Fitchett

389
4
8

Great solution! – Alex Cio Apr 03 '17 at 10:30

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 26 '12 at 09:23

yes, IE9, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari use the property opacity for transparency. The opacity property can take a value from 0.0 - 1.0. A lower value makes the element more transparent.

IE8 and earlier use filter:alpha(opacity=x). The x can take a value from 0 - 100. A lower value makes the element more transparent.

img
{
    opacity: 0.5; /*(Range = 0.0 to 1.0)*/
    filter: alpha(opacity = 50); /* (Range = 0% to 100%) For IE8 & ealier */
}

Also we can give OPACITY to any <DIV> tag and make transparent boxes.

Here is the *

FULL EXAMPLE

<html>
<head>
<style>
div.background
  {
  width:500px;
  height:250px;
  background:url(klematis4_small.jpg) repeat;
  border:2px solid black;
  }
div.transbox
  {
  width:400px;
  height:180px;
  margin:30px 50px;
  background-color:#ffffff;
  border:1px solid black;
  opacity:0.6;
  filter:alpha(opacity=60); /* For IE8 and earlier */
  }
div.transbox p
  {
  margin:30px 40px;
  font-weight:bold;
  color:#000000;
  }
</style>
</head>

<body>

<div class="background">
<div class="transbox">
<p>
This is some text that is placed in the transparent box.
This is some text that is placed in the transparent box.
This is some text that is placed in the transparent box.
This is some text that is placed in the transparent box.
This is some text that is placed in the transparent box.
</p>
</div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 05 '12 at 09:25

3

You can save that image with opacity from Photoshop or use a solid or gradient color as background with an RGBA color: background-color: rgba(0,0,0, .4)

answered Jan 05 '12 at 09:25

Mircea

11,373
26
64
95

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 04 '12 at 19:34

image opacity is not a CSS3 property it is a CSS2 property.There are no cross-browser compatibility issues using this property.It works fine even in older versions of IE.

The following is the syntax

img {
    opacity: 0.7;
    filter: alpha(opacity = 70); /* For IE */
}

the value for opacity must be between 0 and 1. 0 being invisible and 1 being opaque.

for transparency to DOM elements background-color property rgba can be used as

div {
   background: rgba(200, 54, 54, 0.5); 
}

as there are compatibility issues with older versions of IE a fallback is advised.

div {
    background: rgb(200, 54, 54); /* The Fallback */
    background: rgba(200, 54, 54, 0.5); 
}

IE conditional sheets can be used as well for better performance.

<!--[if IE]>
   <style type="text/css">
   .color-block { 
          background:transparent;
filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#50990000,endColorstr=#50990000); 
   zoom: 1;
} 

</style>

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 26 '15 at 20:15

Background Image Transparency is not part of the CSS Specification (though it should be, please someone put it in, I think Chrome may actually support this though).

However a partial way to mimic transparency, with a background image, is to include a linear-gradient in the CSS. It will be placed on top of the background image and if you use the background color of the body, you can create the effect of the image fading into the background of the webpage, But you need to use the RGBA color mode and transition from the same color to the same color with different alpha settings like so:

background:linear-gradient(to right, rgba(0,0,255,0), rgba(0,0,255,1)), url(images/myImage.jpg) fixed no-repeat top center;

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered May 12 '16 at 17:15

There is a perfect tool named: Petteriny (transparent pixel maker) which create any transparency pattern you need . It also generate the CSS you need. here is an example what this tool makes.

.myDiv{background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAACCAYAAABytg0kAAAAFklEQVQIW2NUTmk3vjun8iwjAxCAOAA2KgVERG1HmQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==
) repeat;}

You use it, this like this in your html

 <style> 
.transback {
   background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAACCAYAAABytg0kAAAAFklEQVQIW2NUTmk3vjun8iwjAxCAOAA2KgVERG1HmQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==
) repeat;}
  </style>
<div class="pure-u-1 transback">
 your text over image
</div>

In this tool it's also possible to download the pattern

Background image transparency with CSS3?

8 Answers8

FULL EXAMPLE

Linked