scaleY()

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 scaleY() CSS function defines a transformation that resizes an element along the y-axis (vertically). Its result is a <transform-function> data type.

Try it

transform: scaleY(1);

transform: scaleY(0.7);

transform: scaleY(1.3);

transform: scaleY(-0.5);

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

It modifies the ordinate (vertical, y-coordinate) of each element point by a constant factor, except when the scale factor is 1, in which case the function is the identity transform. The scaling is not isotropic, and the angles of the element are not conserved. scaleY(-1) defines an axial symmetry, with a horizontal axis passing through the origen (as specified by the transform-origen property).

Note: scaleY(sy) is equivalent to scale(1, sy) or scale3d(1, sy, 1).

transform: rotateX(180deg); === transform: scaleY(-1);

Syntax

css

scaleY(s)

Values

s: Is a <number> representing the scaling factor to apply on the ordinate (vertical, y-coordinate) of each point of the element.

Cartesian coordinates on ℝ^2	Homogeneous coordinates on ℝℙ^2	Cartesian coordinates on ℝ^3	Homogeneous coordinates on ℝℙ^3
$\left( \begin{array}{cc} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & s \end{array} \right)$	$\left( \begin{array}{ccc} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & s & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right)$	$\left( \begin{array}{ccc} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & s & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right)$	$\left( \begin{array}{cccc} 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & s & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{array} \right)$
	`[1 0 0 s 0 0]`

Formal syntax

<scaleY()> = 
  scaleY( <number> )

Examples

HTML

html

<div>Normal</div>
<div class="scaled">Scaled</div>

CSS

css

div {
  width: 80px;
  height: 80px;
  background-color: skyblue;
}

.scaled {
  transform: scaleY(0.6);
  background-color: pink;
}

Result

Specifications

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

Browser compatibility

Help improve MDN

Learn how to contribute

This page was last modified on Nov 18, 2025 by MDN contributors.

View this page on GitHub • Report a problem with this content