fill

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨April 2017⁩.

The fill CSS property defines how SVG text content and the interior canvas of SVG shapes are filled or painted. If present, it overrides the element's fill attribute.

The areas inside the outline of the SVG shape or text are painted. What is "inside" a shape may not always be clear. The paths defining a shape may overlap. The areas considered "inside" these complex shapes are clarified by the fill-rule property or attribute.

If subpaths are open, fill closes the path before painting, as if a "closepath" command were included connecting the last point of the subpath with the first point of the subpath. In other words, fill applies to open subpaths within path elements (i.e., subpaths without a closepath command) and polyline elements.

Note: The fill property only applies to <circle>, <ellipse>, <path>, <polygon>, <polyline>, <rect>, <text>, <textPath>, and <tspan> elements nested in an <svg>. It doesn't apply other SVG, HTML, or pseudo-elements.

Syntax

css

/* keywords */
fill: none;
fill: context-fill;
fill: context-stroke;

/* <color> values */
fill: red;
fill: hsl(120deg 75% 25% / 60%);

/* <url> values */
fill: url("#gradientElementID");
fill: url("star.png");

/* <url> with fallback */
fill: url("#gradientElementID") blue;
fill: url("star.png") none;

/* Global values */
fill: inherit;
fill: initial;
fill: revert;
fill: revert-layer;
fill: unset;

Values

none: No fill is painted; the areas inside the stroke, if any, are transparent.
context-fill: Uses the paint value of fill from a context element.
context-stroke: Uses the paint value of stroke from a context element.
<color>: The color of the fill as any valid CSS <color> value.
<url>: A URL reference to an SVG paint server element, such as a <linearGradient>, <radialGradient>, or <pattern>. The resource reference can optionally be followed by a <color> or none, which will be used as a fallback if the referenced paint server doesn't resolve.

Formal definition

Initial value	`black`
Applies to	SVG shapes and text content elements
Inherited	yes
Computed value	as specified, but with `<color>` values computed and `<url>` values made absolute
Animation type	by computed value type

Formal syntax

fill = 
  <paint>  

<paint> = 
  none         |
  <image>      |
  <svg-paint>  

<image> = 
  <url>           |
  <image()>       |
  <image-set()>   |
  <cross-fade()>  |
  <element()>     |
  <gradient>      

<svg-paint> = 
  child               |
  child( <integer> )  

<image()> = 
  image( <image-tags>? [ <image-src>? , <color>? ]! )  

<image-set()> = 
  image-set( <image-set-option># )  

<cross-fade()> = 
  cross-fade( <cf-image># )  

<element()> = 
  element( <id-selector> )  

<image-tags> = 
  ltr  |
  rtl  

<image-src> = 
  <url>     |
  <string>  

<image-set-option> = 
  [ <image> | <string> ] [ <resolution> || type( <string> ) ]?  

<cf-image> = 
  [ <image> | <color> ]  &&
  <percentage [0,100]>?  

<id-selector> = 
  <hash-token>

Examples

Defining fill values for SVG elements

This example demonstrates how a fill is declared, the effect of the property, and how the CSS fill property takes precedence over the fill attribute.

HTML

We have an SVG with two complex shapes defined using the SVG <polygon> and <path> elements. Both have the fill attribute set to the default black. We add a dark grey stroke of #666666 using the SVG stroke attribute but could have used the stroke property.

html

<svg viewBox="0 0 220 120" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <path
    d="M 10,5 l 90,0 -80,80 0,-60 80,80 -90,0 z"
    stroke="#666666"
    fill="black" />
  <polygon
    points="180,10 150,100 220,40 140,40 210,100"
    stroke="#666666"
    fill="black" />
</svg>

CSS

We set fill values on the shapes in the SVG.

svg {
  border: 1px solid;
  height: calc(100vh - 20px);
  margin-bottom: 10px;
}

css

path {
  fill: red;
}
polygon {
  fill: hsl(0deg 100% 50% / 60%);
}

Results

The CSS fill property value overrides the SVG fill attribute value, resulting in both shapes being filled with a red color; the polygon's red is translucent.

Using fill keyword values

This example demonstrates using keyword values for fill.

HTML

We include three <path> elements and a <marker> element that adds a <circle> to every path point. We set the circle marker to be black with a grey fill with the SVG stroke and fill attributes.

html

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 300 90">
  <path d="M 10 44.64 L 30 10 L 70 10 L 90 44.64 L 70 79.28 L 30 79.28 Z" />
  <path d="M 100 44.64 L 80 10 L 120 10 L 140 44.64 L 120 79.28 L 80 79.28 Z" />
  <path
    d="M 150 44.64 L 130 10 L 170 10 L 190 44.64 L 170 79.28 L 130 79.28 Z" />
  <marker
    id="circle"
    markerWidth="12"
    markerHeight="12"
    refX="6"
    refY="6"
    markerUnits="userSpaceOnUse">
    <circle cx="6" cy="6" r="3" stroke-width="2" stroke="black" fill="grey" />
  </marker>
</svg>

CSS

We set different stroke and fill colors on each path. The first path, the one with a red border, has its fill set to none. We set the circle marker's stroke and fill to the same color as the stroke of the element they're marking, using the context-stroke value.

svg {
  border: 1px solid;
  height: calc(100vh - 20px);
  margin-bottom: 10px;
}

css

path {
  stroke-width: 2px;
  marker: url("#circle");
}
path:nth-of-type(1) {
  stroke: red;
  fill: none;
}
path:nth-of-type(2) {
  stroke: green;
  fill: lightgreen;
}
path:nth-of-type(3) {
  stroke: blue;
  fill: lightblue;
}
circle {
  stroke: context-stroke;
  fill: context-stroke;
}

Results

Note how the first path has a transparent background because the fill is none, overriding the default fill of black. The circles are filled with the color of the stroke. If you change the value to context-fill, the circles will be transparent, lightgreen and lightblue instead of red, green, and blue.

Fills and fallbacks

This example demonstrates how to include a url() value with a fallback as a fill value.

HTML

We have an SVG containing two <polygon> stars and a <linearGradient> that goes from green to gold to red.

html

<svg viewBox="0 0 220 120" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <defs>
    <linearGradient id="myGradient">
      <stop offset="5%" stop-color="green" />
      <stop offset="50%" stop-color="gold" />
      <stop offset="95%" stop-color="red" />
    </linearGradient>
  </defs>
  <polygon points="80,10 50,100 120,40 40,40 110,100" />
  <polygon points="180,10 150,100 220,40 140,40 210,100" />
</svg>

CSS

We set fill values on the polygons in the SVG, providing a url() value and a fallback.

svg {
  border: 1px solid;
  height: calc(100vh - 20px);
  margin-bottom: 10px;
}

css

polygon:first-of-type {
  fill: url("#myGradient") magenta;
}
polygon:last-of-type {
  fill: url("#MISSINGIMAGE") magenta;
}

Results

The first star has a gradient as a background. The second star uses the fallback value, as the element referenced in the url() does not exist.

Specifications

Specification
CSS Fill and Stroke Module Level 3 # fill-shorthand

Browser compatibility

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This page was last modified on ⁨Aug 13, 2025⁩ by MDN contributors.

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