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scottjehl/picturefill · source

Snapshot 0 · 2026-11-04T12:47:22Z · JavaScript · MIT

GitHub description at capture

A responsive image polyfill for <picture>, srcset, sizes, and more

README at capture

# Picturefill
A [responsive image](http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/embedded-content.html#embedded-content) polyfill.
* Authors: See [Authors.txt](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottjehl/picturefill/master/Authors.txt)
* License: MIT

## This project is archived and deprecated! 
At the time, it helped us transition to responsive image HTML patterns until browsers supported them. Support and fallback strategies are now very good, and this project is no longer needed or recommended. Thanks everyone!`


[![build-status](https://api.travis-ci.org/scottjehl/picturefill.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/scottjehl/picturefill) [<img src="https://pf-slackin.herokuapp.com/badge.svg" alt="Join Slack channel">](https://pf-slackin.herokuapp.com/) [![picturefill on npm](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/picturefill.svg?style=flat)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/picturefill)

Picturefill has three versions:

* Version 1 mimics the Picture element pattern with `span` elements. It is no longer maintained.
* Version 2 is a lightweight polyfill of the [Picture element draft specification](http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/embedded-content.html#embedded-content).
* Version 3.0.3 is the current stable release.

## Usage, Demos, Docs
To find out how to use Picturefill, visit the [project site](http://scottjehl.github.io/picturefill/).

## The gotchas
Be it browser issues, the responsive images specifications, or Picturefill itself, there are a couple gotchas you should be aware of when working with Picturefill:

- Firefox 38 and 39 has some bugs [[1]](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1139560) [[2]](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1139554) [[3]](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1135812) where images won't update on screen resize. These issues are addressed by Picturefill 3.0.0, and was fixed in Firefox 41.

- Per the `picture` spec, using `%` _isn't_ allowed in the `sizes` attribute. Using `%` will fallback to `100vw`.

- Trying to use the `src` attribute in a browser that _doesn't_ support `picture` natively can result in a double download. To avoid this, don't use the `src` attribute on the `img` tag:

```html
<picture>
    <source srcset="../img/sample.svg" media="(min-width: 768px)" />
    <img srcset="default.png" alt="Sample pic" />
</picture>
```

- If you only want to have an image show up at certain sizes, and not show up at others, you will need to use a transparent placeholder gif:

```html
<picture>
    <source srcset="../img/sample.svg" media="(min-width: 768px)" />
    <img srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="
        alt="Sample pic" />
</picture>
```

## Contributing
For information on how to contribute code to Picturefill, check out [`CONTRIBUTING.md`](CONTRIBUTING.md)

## Issues
If you find a bug in Picturefill, please add it to [the issue tracker](https://github.com/scottjehl/picturefill/issues)

## Discussion
Picturefill discussion takes place via Slack. For an invitation, visit [https://pf-slackin.herokuapp.com/](https://pf-slackin.herokuapp.com/)

## Support
There are currently no known unsupported browsers, provided that you use the markup patterns provided.