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transform

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 transform attribute defines a list of transform definitions that are applied to an element and the element's children.

Note: As a presentation attribute, transform also has a CSS property counterpart: transform. When both are specified, the CSS property takes priority. Note that there are some differences in syntax between the CSS property and the attribute!

Elements

In SVG 2, you can use the transform attribute on any element, including the <svg> root. Note that using transform on the <svg> root is a newer feature, and you should check browser compatibility for support. Using transform on the <svg> root is convenient for applying transforms to an entire SVG image without the need for extra wrapper elements or CSS workarounds.

In SVG 1.1, only these 16 elements were allowed to have a transform applied: <a>, <circle>, <clipPath>, <defs>, <ellipse>, <foreignObject>, <g>, <image>, <line>, <path>, <polygon>, <polyline>, <rect>, <switch>, <text>, and <use>.

Also, as a legacy from SVG 1.1, <linearGradient> and <radialGradient> support the gradientTransform attribute, and <pattern> supports the patternTransform attribute, both of which behave exactly like the transform attribute.

Value

Value	`<transform-list>`
Default value	none
Animatable	Yes

Examples

Apply a transform to a single SVG element

In this example, we apply a transform to a single <g> element inside an SVG document:

<svg
  viewBox="-40 0 150 100"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <g
    fill="grey"
    transform="rotate(-10 50 100)
               translate(-36 45.5)
               skewX(40)
               scale(1 0.5)">
    <path
      id="heart"
      d="M 10,30 A 20,20 0,0,1 50,30 A 20,20 0,0,1 90,30 Q 90,60 50,90 Q 10,60 10,30 z" />
  </g>

  <use href="#heart" fill="none" stroke="red" />
</svg>

Apply a transform to an entire SVG document

In this example, we apply a transform to the <svg> root element, meaning that the transform is applied to the entire SVG document:

<svg
  viewBox="-40 0 150 100"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  transform="rotate(-10 50 100)
               translate(-36 15.5)
               skewX(40)
               scale(1 0.5)">
  <g fill="grey">
    <path
      id="heart"
      d="M 10,30 A 20,20 0,0,1 50,30 A 20,20 0,0,1 90,30 Q 90,60 50,90 Q 10,60 10,30 z" />
  </g>

  <use href="#heart" fill="none" stroke="red" />
</svg>

Transform functions

The following transform functions can be used by the transform attribute <transform-list>.

Warning: As per the spec, you should be able to also use CSS transform functions. However, the compatibility isn't guaranteed.

Matrix

The matrix(<a> <b> <c> <d> <e> <f>) transform function specifies a transformation in the form of a transformation matrix of six values. matrix(a,b,c,d,e,f) is equivalent to applying the transformation matrix:

\begin{pmatrix} a & c & e \\ b & d & f \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}

Which maps coordinates from a previous coordinate system into a new coordinate system by the following matrix equalities:

\begin{pmatrix} x_{\mathrm{newCoordSys}} \\ y_{\mathrm{newCoordSys}} \\ 1 \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} a & c & e \\ b & d & f \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix} x_{\mathrm{prevCoordSys}} \\ y_{\mathrm{prevCoordSys}} \\ 1 \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} a x_{\mathrm{prevCoordSys}} + c y_{\mathrm{prevCoordSys}} + e \\ b x_{\mathrm{prevCoordSys}} + d y_{\mathrm{prevCoordSys}} + f \\ 1 \end{pmatrix}

Example

<svg viewBox="0 0 200 200" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <rect x="10" y="10" width="30" height="20" fill="green" />

  <!--
  In the following example we are applying the matrix:
  [a c e]    [3 -1 30]
  [b d f] => [1  3 40]
  [0 0 1]    [0  0  1]

  which transform the rectangle as such:

  top left corner: oldX=10 oldY=10
  newX = a * oldX + c * oldY + e = 3 * 10 - 1 * 10 + 30 = 50
  newY = b * oldX + d * oldY + f = 1 * 10 + 3 * 10 + 40 = 80

  top right corner: oldX=40 oldY=10
  newX = a * oldX + c * oldY + e = 3 * 40 - 1 * 10 + 30 = 140
  newY = b * oldX + d * oldY + f = 1 * 40 + 3 * 10 + 40 = 110

  bottom left corner: oldX=10 oldY=30
  newX = a * oldX + c * oldY + e = 3 * 10 - 1 * 30 + 30 = 30
  newY = b * oldX + d * oldY + f = 1 * 10 + 3 * 30 + 40 = 140

  bottom right corner: oldX=40 oldY=30
  newX = a * oldX + c * oldY + e = 3 * 40 - 1 * 30 + 30 = 120
  newY = b * oldX + d * oldY + f = 1 * 40 + 3 * 30 + 40 = 170
  -->
  <rect
    x="10"
    y="10"
    width="30"
    height="20"
    fill="red"
    transform="matrix(3 1 -1 3 30 40)" />
</svg>

Translate

The translate(<x> [<y>]) transform function moves the object by x and y. If y is not provided, it is assumed to be 0.

In other words:

xNew = xOld + <x>
yNew = yOld + <y>

Example

<svg viewBox="0 0 100 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <!-- No translation -->
  <rect x="5" y="5" width="40" height="40" fill="green" />

  <!-- Horizontal translation -->
  <rect
    x="5"
    y="5"
    width="40"
    height="40"
    fill="blue"
    transform="translate(50)" />

  <!-- Vertical translation -->
  <rect
    x="5"
    y="5"
    width="40"
    height="40"
    fill="red"
    transform="translate(0 50)" />

  <!-- Both horizontal and vertical translation -->
  <rect
    x="5"
    y="5"
    width="40"
    height="40"
    fill="yellow"
    transform="translate(50 50)" />
</svg>

Scale

The scale(<x> [<y>]) transform function specifies a scale operation by x and y. If y is not provided, it is assumed to be equal to x.

Example

<svg viewBox="-50 -50 100 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <!-- uniform scale -->
  <circle cx="0" cy="0" r="10" fill="red" transform="scale(4)" />

  <!-- vertical scale -->
  <circle cx="0" cy="0" r="10" fill="yellow" transform="scale(1, 4)" />

  <!-- horizontal scale -->
  <circle cx="0" cy="0" r="10" fill="pink" transform="scale(4, 1)" />

  <!-- No scale -->
  <circle cx="0" cy="0" r="10" fill="black" />
</svg>

Rotate

The rotate(<a> [<x> <y>]) transform function specifies a rotation by a degrees about a given point. If optional parameters x and y are not supplied, the rotation is about the origin of the current user coordinate system. If optional parameters x and y are supplied, the rotation is about the point (x, y).

Example

<svg viewBox="-12 -2 34 14" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <rect x="0" y="0" width="10" height="10" />

  <!-- rotation is done around the point 0,0 -->
  <rect x="0" y="0" width="10" height="10" fill="red" transform="rotate(100)" />

  <!-- rotation is done around the point 10,10 -->
  <rect
    x="0"
    y="0"
    width="10"
    height="10"
    fill="green"
    transform="rotate(100, 10, 10)" />
</svg>

SkewX

The skewX(<a>) transform function specifies a skew transformation along the x axis by a degrees.

Example

<svg viewBox="-5 -5 10 10" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <rect x="-3" y="-3" width="6" height="6" />

  <rect x="-3" y="-3" width="6" height="6" fill="red" transform="skewX(30)" />
</svg>

SkewY

The skewY(<a>) transform function specifies a skew transformation along the y axis by a degrees.

Example

<svg viewBox="-5 -5 10 10" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <rect x="-3" y="-3" width="6" height="6" />

  <rect x="-3" y="-3" width="6" height="6" fill="red" transform="skewY(30)" />
</svg>

Specifications

Specification
CSS Transforms Module Level 1> # svg-transform>
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2> # TransformProperty>

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
`transform`	361	1212	1649≤40–preview	231512.1–1510.5–15	93.1	3618	1649≤40	241412.1–1411–14	93.2	3.01.0	4.43	93.2
`svg_root`	137	137	No	121	No	137	No	90	No	No	137	No

transform

Elements

Value

Examples

Apply a transform to a single SVG element

Apply a transform to an entire SVG document

Transform functions

Matrix

Example

Translate

Example

Scale

Example

Rotate

Example

SkewX

Example

SkewY

Example

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also