Images Larger than Container CSS

This will center the image inside of a element when the elements height and/or width is smaller than the image. This works well when you have image assets of various aspect ratios that you want to display as thumbs that are the same size.

demo

HTML

<ul class="thumbnails">
  <li>
    <img src="https://via.placeholder.com/400x300/9932CC/FFFFFF">
  </li>
  <li>
    <img src="https://via.placeholder.com/500x300/7FFFD4/000000">
  </li>
  <li>
    <img src="https://via.placeholder.com/300x200/87CEFA/000000">
  </li>
  <li>
    <img src="https://via.placeholder.com/300x400/F4A460/000000">
  </li>
</ul>

CSS

ul.thumbnails {
  display: flex;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
}
ul.thumbnails li {
  height: 150px;
  border: 4px solid #FFF;
  overflow: hidden;
  position: relative;
  width: 150px;
}
ul.thumbnails li img {
  position: absolute;
  top: -9999px;
  bottom: -9999px;
  left: -9999px;
  right: -9999px;
  margin: auto;
  width: 250px;
}

Originally published at jimfrenette.com/css/images-larger-than-container

Comments

[Kaspars Zuks]

Or just use "object-fit: cover;"

[Jim Frenette]

I guess that depends on your supported browser spec. - caniuse.com/#search=object-fit

[Kaspars Zuks]

I use this polyfill, haven't had any major issues in older browsers with it npmjs.com/package/object-fit-images

[Jim Frenette]

Thanks for the info! I will have to update my original post with this resource.