HTML <img> Tag
Topic: HTML5 Tags ReferencePrev|Next
Description
The <img> (short for image) tag defines an image in an HTML document. Images are not directly inserted into the document; they are linked to the HTML pages. The <img> element creates a holding space to embed the referenced image designated by the src attribute.
The following table summarizes the usages context and the version history of this tag.
| Placement: | Inline |
|---|---|
| Content: | None. It is an empty element. |
| Start/End Tag: | Start tag: required, End tag: forbidden |
| Version: | HTML 2, 3.2, 4, 4.01, 5 |
Note: The browser may replace the image with the alternative text defined in this element's alt attribute in the case of non-graphical browsers, or if the browser is unable to display the image because it is invalid or an unsupported type.
Syntax
The basic syntax of the <img> tag is given with:
The example below shows the <img> tag in action.
Example
Try this code »<img src="kites.jpg" alt="Flying Kites">
<img src="sky.jpg" alt="Cloudy Sky">
<img src="ballons.jpg" alt="Hot Air Ballons">Tag-Specific Attributes
The following table shows the attributes that are specific to the <img> tag.
| Attribute | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Required — The following attributes must be specified on this tag for the markup to be valid. | ||
alt |
text | Provides an alternate text for an image. |
src |
URL | Specifies the URL of the image file to be displayed. |
| Optional — The following attributes are optional. | ||
align |
left |
Obsolete Specifies the alignment of an image with respect to the surrounding elements. |
border |
pixels | Obsolete Specifies the width of the border around the image. |
crossorigin |
anonymous |
Specifies how the element handles cross-origin requests. |
height |
length | Specifies the height of the image. |
hspace |
pixels | Obsolete Specifies the amount of whitespace on left and right side of an image. |
ismap |
ismap |
This Boolean attribute defines that the image is part of a server-side map. |
longdesc |
URL | Obsolete Specifies a link to a long description of the image. |
usemap |
URL | Obsolete Defines a client-side image map associated with the img element. |
vspace |
pixels | Obsolete Specifies the amount of whitespace on top and bottom side of the image. |
width |
length | Specifies the width of the image. |
Global Attributes
Like all other HTML tags, the <img> tag supports the global attributes in HTML5.
Event Attributes
The <img> tag also supports the event attributes in HTML5.
Browser Compatibility
The <img> tag is supported in all major modern browsers.
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Basic Support—
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Further Reading
See tutorial on: HTML Images.
Related tag: <figure>, <figcaption>.
