<color-interpolation-method>

The <color-interpolation-method> CSS data type represents the color space used for interpolation between <color> values. It can be used to override the default interpolation color space for color-related functional notations such as color-mix() and linear-gradient().

When interpolating <color> values, the interpolation color space defaults to Oklab.

Syntax

The <color-interpolation-method> specifies whether interpolation should use a rectangular color space or a polar color space with an optional hue interpolation method:

in <rectangular-color-space>
// or
in <polar-color-space>[ <hue-interpolation method>]

Values

<rectangular-color-space>: One of the keywords srgb, srgb-linear, lab, oklab, xyz, xyz-d50, or xyz-d65.
<polar-color-space>: One of the keywords hsl, hwb, lch, or oklch.
<hue-interpolation-method> Optional: The algorithm for hue interpolation. It defaults to shorter hue.

Formal syntax

<color-interpolation-method> = 
  in [ <rectangular-color-space> | <polar-color-space> <hue-interpolation-method>? ]  

<rectangular-color-space> = 
  srgb         |
  srgb-linear  |
  lab          |
  oklab        |
  xyz          |
  xyz-d50      |
  xyz-d65      

<polar-color-space> = 
  hsl    |
  hwb    |
  lch    |
  oklch  

<hue-interpolation-method> = 
  [ shorter | longer | increasing | decreasing ] hue

Examples

Comparing interpolation color spaces using gradients

The following example shows the effect of using different interpolation color spaces for linear-gradient().

HTML

html

<div>sRGB:</div>
<div class="gradient srgb"></div>
<div>Oklab:</div>
<div class="gradient oklab"></div>
<div>Oklch (with <code>longer hue</code>):</div>
<div class="gradient oklch-longer"></div>

CSS

/* Fallback styles */
.srgb {
  background-image: linear-gradient(
    to right,
    rgb(0% 0% 100%),
    rgb(20% 0% 80%),
    rgb(40% 0% 60%),
    rgb(60% 0% 40%),
    rgb(80% 0% 20%),
    rgb(100% 0% 0%)
  );
}
.oklab {
  background-image: linear-gradient(
    to right,
    oklab(45.2% -0.032 -0.312),
    oklab(48.7% 0.019 -0.224),
    oklab(52.2% 0.07 -0.137),
    oklab(55.8% 0.122 -0.049),
    oklab(59.3% 0.173 0.038),
    oklab(62.8% 0.225 0.126)
  );
}
.oklch-longer {
  background-image: linear-gradient(
    to right,
    oklch(45.2% 0.313 264),
    oklch(46.8% 0.308 243),
    oklch(48.4% 0.303 221),
    oklch(50% 0.298 200),
    oklch(51.6% 0.293 179),
    oklch(53.2% 0.288 157),
    oklch(54.8% 0.283 136),
    oklch(56.4% 0.278 115),
    oklch(58% 0.273 93),
    oklch(59.6% 0.268 72),
    oklch(61.2% 0.263 51),
    oklch(62.8% 0.258 29)
  );
}

css

.gradient {
  height: 50px;
  width: 100%;
}
.srgb {
  background-image: linear-gradient(in srgb to right, blue, red);
}
.oklab {
  background-image: linear-gradient(in oklab to right, blue, red);
}
.oklch-longer {
  background-image: linear-gradient(in oklch longer hue to right, blue, red);
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Color Module Level 4 # interpolation-space

<color-interpolation-method>

Syntax

Values

Formal syntax

Examples

Comparing interpolation color spaces using gradients

HTML

CSS

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

css.types.color.color-mix

css.types.image.gradient.conic-gradient.interpolation_color_space

css.types.image.gradient.linear-gradient.interpolation_color_space

css.types.image.gradient.radial-gradient.interpolation_color_space

css.types.image.gradient.repeating-conic-gradient.interpolation_color_space

css.types.image.gradient.repeating-linear-gradient.interpolation_color_space

css.types.image.gradient.repeating-radial-gradient.interpolation_color_space

See also