HTML <img> Tag
Example
How to insert an image:
<img decoding="async" src="smiley-2.gif" alt="Smiley face" width="42" height="42">
Browser Support
All major browsers support the <img> tag.
Tag Definition and Usage
The <img> tag defines an image in an HTML page.
The <img> tag has two required attributes: src and alt.
Note: Technically, images are not inserted into an HTML page, but linked to the HTML page. The <img> tag creates a placeholder for the referenced image.
Tip: To add a link to an image, nest the <img> tag inside the <a> tag.
Differences Between HTML 4.01 and HTML5
The following attributes are not supported in HTML5: align, border, hspace, longdesc, vspace.
In HTML 4.01, the following attributes: align, border, hspace, vspace deprecated.
Differences Between HTML and XHTML
In HTML, the <img> tag has no closing tag.
In XHTML, the <img> tag must be properly closed.
Attributes
| Attribute | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| align | top <br>bottom <br>middle <br>left <br>right | Not supported in HTML5. Deprecated in HTML 4.01. Specifies the alignment of the image according to the surrounding text. |
| loading | eager: Load immediately <br>lazy: Defer loading | Specifies whether the browser should load the image immediately or defer loading. |
| alt | text | Specifies an alternate text for the image. |
| border | pixels | Not supported in HTML5. Deprecated in HTML 4.01. Specifies the border around the image. |
| crossorigin New | anonymous <br>use-credentials | Sets the cross-origin attribute for the image. |
| height | pixels | Specifies the height of the image. |
| hspace | pixels | Not supported in HTML5. Deprecated in HTML 4.01. Specifies the white space to the left and right of the image. |
| ismap | ismap | Specifies an image as a server-side image map. |
| longdesc | URL | Not supported in HTML5. Deprecated in HTML 4.01. Points to a URL containing a long description of the image. |
| src | URL | Specifies the URL of the image to be displayed. |
| usemap | #mapname | Specifies an image as a client-side image map. |
| vspace | pixels | Not supported in HTML5. Deprecated in HTML 4.01. Specifies the white space above and below the image. |
| width | pixels | Specifies the width of the image. |
Global Attributes
The <img> tag supports HTML global attributes.
Event Attributes
The <img> tag supports HTML event attributes.
Try It Yourself - Examples
Inserting an image from a different location
Related Articles
HTML Tutorial: HTML Images
HTML DOM Reference: Image Object