How to add SVGs with CSS (background-image)

By Matt Visiwig Matt Visiwig Portrait Aug 25, 2021

There are TWO methods for displaying SVG images as a CSS background image:

Link directly to an SVG file

.your-class {
   background-image: url( '/path/image.svg' );
}

Placing SVG code as the source.

.your-class {
   background-image: url( "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 600 200'%3E%3Cpath d='M10 10h123v123H10z'/%3E%3C/svg%3E" );
}

Notice with this method we have to treat the SVG code before it will work. In the example, we convert the SVG to a Data URI. You could even convert it to Base64, but that will result in a messier, longer code blob. It is a best practice to avoid Base64 in this case.

Tip: Use this SVG to CSS converter tool to quickly convert your SVG code into a data URI.

After you place your file path or SVG code into the background-image property, you can further tweak how the background displays. You see, the great thing about using an SVG as a CSS background-image is that they can be styled with CSS background properties.

Don’t miss any SVG freebies: customizable backgrounds, icons, and more: get freebies

The CSS background-image properties

Let’s review all the properties related to background-image and what they do.

Background-attachment:
Example values: scroll; fixed; local;
The attachment specifies how the background moves relative to the user’s screen. When the user scrolls, the background can scroll along with a given section, or stay put (fixed).

Background-position:
Example values: center; top left; 50% 50%; right 30px bottom 15px;
The background-position determines where the image is displayed within its container. The center keyword is great with large backgrounds and at making patterns symmetrical. With smaller backgrounds, you may reach for a combo of keywords and lengths to place the background image more precisely.
Background-size:
Example values: cover; contain; 500px 250px; auto;
This controls how big or small the image displays. A value of cover forces the image to fill its entire containing element in proportion, and either the excess width or height will get clipped. A value of contain is similar in that it fills its container in proportion, but without clipping. You can also provide a specific width and height value.
Background-repeat:
Example values: no-repeat; repeat; repeat-x;
The background-repeat property allows you to tile the background image into a pattern.
Background-color:
Example values: red; #F00; rgb(0,255,165);
SVGs are a transparent image format and if the SVG elements do not cover the entire viewBox, the background color will be visible behind your SVG.
Background-origin:
Example values: border-box; padding-box; content-box;
The origin determines the boundary of the background’s container. Border-box will stretch the background area for the entire container, while the padding-box and content-box values shrink the background area within the border and inside the padding respectively.

Background-clip:
Example values: border-box; padding-box; content-box;
Similar to background-origin, this property defines the background area, with one difference: the background doesn’t resize, but instead crops the background image to fit in the assigned boundary.

Background-blend-mode:
Example values: multiply; screen; overlay, color-dodge, color;
This property blends the colors of the target background with what is visible behind the target element, blending into a single colorful result. The blend modes are essentially the browser version of Photoshop’s blending modes.

Layering multiple background images

Background-image can hold multiple background image layers to achieve cool effects. To create these image layers, comma-separate each image value in a single background-image property. Then when you use any related background properties, comma-separate those varied values to coincide with the images, or instead use a single value which will apply to all images the same.

background-image:
   url( '/path/image-1.svg' ),
   url( '/path/image-2.svg' ),
   url( '/path/image-3.svg' );

You can mix images, SVG data URIs, and CSS gradients. But you need to overlap images with transparency or take advantage of the background-blend-mode discussed above. Otherwise you will only see one background. The first image is on top of the background stack.

Let’s mix a few backgrounds now, and see what we get. First I headed over to the homepage of SVGBackgrounds.com to find a few quick backgrounds to layer together. Here is the code and results:

<div id="multi-bg"> </div>
<style>
   #multi-bg{
      height: 300px;
      display: block;
      background-color: #808;
      background-image:
         url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 1600 900'%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23cc3f47' points='957 450 539 900 1396 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23b3373e' points='957 450 872.9 900 1396 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23c8364e' points='-60 900 398 662 816 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23b02f44' points='337 900 398 662 816 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23c22f55' points='1203 546 1552 900 876 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23ab294b' points='1203 546 1552 900 1162 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23bb285c' points='641 695 886 900 367 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23a52351' points='587 900 641 695 886 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23b32362' points='1710 900 1401 632 1096 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%239f1f57' points='1710 900 1401 632 1365 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23aa2068' points='1210 900 971 687 725 900'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23971c5d' points='943 900 1210 900 971 687'/%3E%3C/svg%3E"),
         url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='400' height='200' viewBox='0 0 160 80'%3E%3Cg fill='%23FFF' fill-opacity='0.2'%3E%3Cpolygon points='0 10 0 0 10 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='0 40 0 30 10 30'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='0 30 0 20 10 20'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='0 70 0 60 10 60'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='0 80 0 70 10 70'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='50 80 50 70 60 70'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='10 20 10 10 20 10'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='10 40 10 30 20 30'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='20 10 20 0 30 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='10 10 10 0 20 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='30 20 30 10 40 10'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='20 20 20 40 40 20'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='40 10 40 0 50 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='40 20 40 10 50 10'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='40 40 40 30 50 30'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='30 40 30 30 40 30'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='40 60 40 50 50 50'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='50 30 50 20 60 20'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='40 60 40 80 60 60'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='50 40 50 60 70 40'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='60 0 60 20 80 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='70 30 70 20 80 20'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='70 40 70 30 80 30'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='60 60 60 80 80 60'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='80 10 80 0 90 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='70 40 70 60 90 40'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='80 60 80 50 90 50'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='60 30 60 20 70 20'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='80 70 80 80 90 80 100 70'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='80 10 80 40 110 10'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='110 40 110 30 120 30'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='90 40 90 70 120 40'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='10 50 10 80 40 50'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='110 60 110 50 120 50'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='100 60 100 80 120 60'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='110 0 110 20 130 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='120 30 120 20 130 20'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='130 10 130 0 140 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='130 30 130 20 140 20'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='120 40 120 30 130 30'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='130 50 130 40 140 40'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='120 50 120 70 140 50'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='110 70 110 80 130 80 140 70'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='140 10 140 0 150 0'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='140 20 140 10 150 10'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='140 40 140 30 150 30'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='140 50 140 40 150 40'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='140 70 140 60 150 60'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='150 20 150 40 160 30 160 20'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='150 60 150 50 160 50'/%3E%3Cpolygon points='140 70 140 80 150 80 160 70'/%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/svg%3E"),         
         url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='100%25' height='100%25' viewBox='0 0 1600 800'%3E%3Cg %3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23740074' points='1600 160 0 460 0 350 1600 50'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%235f005f' points='1600 260 0 560 0 450 1600 150'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%234b004b' points='1600 360 0 660 0 550 1600 250'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23360036' points='1600 460 0 760 0 650 1600 350'/%3E%3Cpolygon fill='%23220022' points='1600 800 0 800 0 750 1600 450'/%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/svg%3E");
      background-repeat: no-repeat;
      background-size: cover;
      background-position: bottom center, 50%, 50%;
   }
</style>

Pretty? No.

BUT, this technique prevents the need to layer div containers to achieve a layer effect. Let’s try again, this time to make a simpler one that looks useable. Let’s place a pattern over a cool image texture.

Much better!

I could definitely see something more like this being used in a real-world project. Subtle backgrounds are always nice.

Wrapping up about SVGs in CSS background-images

We looked at how to add SVGs into the CSS property background-image. With all the related background properties and the fact you can layer backgrounds, there is little that can’t be achieved. This way of adding website backgrounds is powerful.