stroke-miterlimit

The stroke-miterlimit CSS property defines a limit on the ratio of the miter length to the stroke-width when the shape to be used at the corners of an SVG element's stroked path is a mitered join. If the limit defined by this property is exceeded, the join is converted from miter to bevel, thus making the corner appear truncated.

This property applies to any SVG corner-generating shape or text-content element (see stroke-miterlimit for a full list), but as an inherited property, it may be applied to elements such as <g> and still have the intended effect on descendant elements' strokes. If present, it overrides the element's stroke-miterlimit attribute.

Description

When two line segments meet at a sharp angle and miter joins have been specified for stroke-linejoin, or if they default to that value, it is possible for the miter to extend far beyond the thickness of the line stroking the path. The stroke-miterlimit ratio is used to define a limit, past which the join is converted from a miter to a bevel.

The ratio of miter length (the distance between the outer tip and the inner corner of the miter) to stroke-width is directly related to the angle (theta) between the segments in user space by the formula:

stroke-miterlimit = miterLength stroke-width = 1 sin ( θ 2 ) \text{stroke-miterlimit} = \frac{\text{miterLength}}{\text{stroke-width}} = \frac{1}{\sin\left(\frac{\theta}{2}\right)}

For example, a miter limit of 1.414 converts miters to bevels for a theta value of less than 90 degrees, a limit of 4.0 converts them for a theta less than approximately 29 degrees, and a limit of 10.0 converts them for theta less than approximately 11.5 degrees.

Syntax

css
/* number values */
stroke-miterlimit: 1;
stroke-miterlimit: 3.1416;

/* Global values */
stroke-miterlimit: inherit;
stroke-miterlimit: initial;
stroke-miterlimit: revert;
stroke-miterlimit: revert-layer;
stroke-miterlimit: unset;

Values

<number>

Any real positive number equal to or greater than 1; values below that are invalid. The initial value is 4.

Formal definition

Initial value4
Applies to<circle>, <ellipse>, <line>, <path>, <polygon>, <polyline>, and <rect> elements in an svg
Inheritedyes
Computed valueas specified
Animation typeby computed value type

Formal syntax

stroke-miterlimit = 
  <number>

Examples

Various miter limits

This example demonstrates the effect of different values for the stroke-miterlimit property.

HTML

We set up five multi-segment paths, all of which use a black stroke with a width of one, and no fill. Each path creates a series of mountain symbols, going from left (a shallow corner angle) to right (an extreme corner angle).

html
<svg viewBox="0 0 39 36" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <g stroke="black" stroke-width="1" fill="none">
    <path
      d="M1,5 l7   ,-3 l7   ,3
         m2,0 l3.5 ,-3 l3.5 ,3
         m2,0 l2   ,-3 l2   ,3
         m2,0 l0.75,-3 l0.75,3
         m2,0 l0.5 ,-3 l0.5 ,3" />
    <path
      d="M1,12 l7,-3 l7,3 m2,0 l3.5,-3 l3.5,3 m2,0 l2,-3 l2,3 m2,0 l0.75,-3 l0.75,3 m2,0 l0.5,-3 l0.5,3" />
    <path
      d="M1,19 l7,-3 l7,3 m2,0 l3.5,-3 l3.5,3 m2,0 l2,-3 l2,3 m2,0 l0.75,-3 l0.75,3 m2,0 l0.5,-3 l0.5,3" />
    <path
      d="M1,26 l7,-3 l7,3 m2,0 l3.5,-3 l3.5,3 m2,0 l2,-3 l2,3 m2,0 l0.75,-3 l0.75,3 m2,0 l0.5,-3 l0.5,3" />
    <path
      d="M1,33 l7,-3 l7,3 m2,0 l3.5,-3 l3.5,3 m2,0 l2,-3 l2,3 m2,0 l0.75,-3 l0.75,3 m2,0 l0.5,-3 l0.5,3" />
  </g>
</svg>

CSS

We apply increasingly large values of stroke-miterlimit to the paths, such that for the first path, only the first (leftmost) subpath is mitered; for the second path, the first two subpaths are mitered; and so on until for the fifth path, all five subpaths are mitered.

css
path:nth-child(1) {
  stroke-miterlimit: 1.1;
}
path:nth-child(2) {
  stroke-miterlimit: 1.4;
}
path:nth-child(3) {
  stroke-miterlimit: 1.9;
}
path:nth-child(4) {
  stroke-miterlimit: 4.2;
}
path:nth-child(5) {
  stroke-miterlimit: 6.1;
}

Specifications

Specification
CSS Fill and Stroke Module Level 3
# stroke-miterlimit

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also