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animation-delay

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨September 2015⁩.

The animation-delay CSS property specifies the amount of time to wait from applying the animation to an element before beginning to perform the animation. The animation can start later, immediately from its beginning, or immediately and partway through the animation.

Try it

animation-delay: 250ms;

animation-delay: 2s;

animation-delay: -2s;

<section class="flex-column" id="default-example">
  <div>Animation <span id="play-status"></span></div>
  <div id="example-element">Select a delay to start!</div>
</section>

#example-element {
  background-color: #1766aa;
  color: white;
  margin: auto;
  margin-left: 0;
  border: 5px solid #333333;
  width: 150px;
  height: 150px;
  border-radius: 50%;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  flex-direction: column;
}

#play-status {
  font-weight: bold;
}

.animating {
  animation-name: slide;
  animation-duration: 3s;
  animation-timing-function: ease-in;
  animation-iteration-count: 2;
  animation-direction: alternate;
}

@keyframes slide {
  from {
    background-color: orange;
    color: black;
    margin-left: 0;
  }
  to {
    background-color: orange;
    color: black;
    margin-left: 80%;
  }
}

const el = document.getElementById("example-element");
const status = document.getElementById("play-status");

function update() {
  status.textContent = "delaying";
  el.className = "";
  window.requestAnimationFrame(() => {
    window.requestAnimationFrame(() => {
      el.className = "animating";
    });
  });
}

el.addEventListener("animationstart", () => {
  status.textContent = "playing";
});

el.addEventListener("animationend", () => {
  status.textContent = "finished";
});

const observer = new MutationObserver(() => {
  update();
});

observer.observe(el, {
  attributes: true,
  attributeFilter: ["style"],
});

update();

It is often convenient to use the shorthand property animation to set all animation properties at once.

Syntax

/* Single animation */
animation-delay: 3s;
animation-delay: 0s;
animation-delay: -1500ms;

/* Multiple animations */
animation-delay: 2.1s, 480ms;

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

Values

<time>

The time offset, from the moment at which the animation is applied to the element, at which the animation should begin. This may be specified in either seconds (s) or milliseconds (ms). The unit is required.

A positive value indicates that the animation should begin after the specified amount of time has elapsed. A value of 0s, which is the default, indicates that the animation should begin as soon as it's applied.

A negative value causes the animation to begin immediately, but partway through its cycle. For example, if you specify -1s as the animation delay time, the animation will begin immediately but will start 1 second into the animation sequence. If you specify a negative value for the animation delay, but the starting value is implicit, the starting value is taken from the moment the animation is applied to the element.

Note: When you specify multiple comma-separated values on an animation-* property, they are applied to the animations in the order in which the animation-names appear. For situations where the number of animations and animation-* property values do not match, see Setting multiple animation property values.

Note: animation-delay has no effect on CSS scroll-driven animations.

Formal definition

Initial value	`0s`
Applies to	all elements, `::before` and `::after` pseudo-elements
Inherited	no
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	Not animatable

Formal syntax

animation-delay = 
  <time>#

Examples

Setting an animation delay

This animation has a delay of 2 seconds.

HTML

<div class="box"></div>

CSS

.box {
  background-color: rebeccapurple;
  border-radius: 10px;
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
}

.box:hover {
  animation-name: rotate;
  animation-duration: 0.7s;
  animation-delay: 2s;
}

@keyframes rotate {
  0% {
    transform: rotate(0);
  }
  100% {
    transform: rotate(360deg);
  }
}

Result

Hover over the rectangle to start the animation.

See CSS animations for examples.

Specifications

Specification
CSS Animations Level 1> # animation-delay>

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android	WebView on iOS
`animation-delay`	433	1212	16 Before Firefox 57, Firefox does not repaint elements outside the viewport that are animated into the viewport with a delay. This bug affects only some platforms, such as Windows. 495	301512.1–1512–15	94	4318	16495	301412.1–1412–14	93.2	4.01.0	434.4	93.2