translateX()

Baseline Widely available

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

The translateX() CSS function repositions an element horizontally on the 2D plane. Its result is a <transform-function> data type.

Try it

transform: translateX(0);

transform: translateX(42px);

transform: translateX(-2.1rem);

transform: translateX(3ch);

<section id="default-example">
  <img
    class="transition-all"
    id="static-element"
    src="/shared-assets/images/examples/firefox-logo.svg"
    width="200" />
  <img
    class="transition-all"
    id="example-element"
    src="/shared-assets/images/examples/firefox-logo.svg"
    width="200" />
</section>

#static-element {
  opacity: 0.4;
  position: absolute;
}

#example-element {
  position: absolute;
}

Note: translateX(tx) is equivalent to translate(tx, 0) or translate3d(tx, 0, 0).

Syntax

css

/* <length-percentage> values */
transform: translateX(200px);
transform: translateX(50%);

Values

<length-percentage>: Is a <length> or <percentage> representing the abscissa (horizontal, x-component) of the translating vector [tx, 0]. In Cartesian coordinate system it represents shift along x-axis. A percentage value refers to the width of the reference box defined by the transform-box property.

Cartesian coordinates on ℝ^2	Homogeneous coordinates on ℝℙ^2	Cartesian coordinates on ℝ^3	Homogeneous coordinates on ℝℙ^3
A translation is not a linear transformation in ℝ^2 and can't be represented using a Cartesian-coordinate matrix.	$\left( \begin{array}{ccc} 1 & 0 & t \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right)$	$\left( \begin{array}{ccc} 1 & 0 & t \\ 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right)$	$\left( \begin{array}{cccc} 1 & 0 & 0 & t \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right)$
	`[1 0 0 1 t 0]`

Formal syntax

<translateX()> = 
  translateX( <length-percentage> )  

<length-percentage> = 
  <length>      |
  <percentage>

Examples

HTML

html

<div>Static</div>
<div class="moved">Moved</div>
<div>Static</div>

CSS

css

div {
  width: 60px;
  height: 60px;
  background-color: skyblue;
}

.moved {
  transform: translateX(10px); /* Equal to translate(10px) */
  background-color: pink;
}

Result

Specifications

Specification
CSS Transforms Module Level 1 # funcdef-transform-translatex

Browser compatibility

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This page was last modified on ⁨Jul 23, 2025⁩ by MDN contributors.

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