What Is The HTML <img> Tag?

Date First Published: 1st March 2023

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Development

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

Example Of The <img> Tag
Attributes

Learn more about what the HTML <img> tag is in this article.

In HTML, the <img> tag is used to display an image in a document. When linking to an image, illustration, diagram, or vector, in a webpage, the <img> tag is used. When using this tag, images are not inserted into webpage. Instead, they are linked to webpages, either from the same website or another website. This basic HTML tag is supported by all major web browsers.

Note:

To insert a hyperlink on images, place the <img> tag inside the <a> tag.

Note:

Common image formats for the <img> tag that are supported by user agents include APNG, BMP, GIF, ICO, JPEG, PNG, SVG, Tiff, and WebP.

Example Of The <img< Tag

An example of the <img> tag can be seen below. It embeds an image file from Wikimedia onto this site.

Output:

Attributes

Below are the attributes for the <img> tag.

Attribute	Description
Align	Sets the alignment of the image in reference to elements surrounding it. Not supported in HTML5.
Alt	Specifies the alternative text that will display when the image fails to load.
Border	Sets the width of the border around the image. Not supported in HTML5.
Crossorigin	Enables the use of <canva> on images from third-party sites that allow cross-origin access.
Height	Sets the height of the image.
Hspace	Defines spaces at the left and right sides of the image. Not supported in HTML5.
Ismap	Specifies that the image is a server-side image map.
Longdesc	Specifies the URL address with a detailed description of the image. Not supported in HTML5.
Usemap	Specifies that the image is a client-side image map.
Src	Specifies the URL of the image.
Vspace	Defines spaces at the top and bottom of the image. Not supported in HTML5.
Width	Sets the width of the image.