animation-delay

The animation-delay CSS property specifies the amount of time to wait from applying the animation to an element before beginning to perform the animation. The animation can start later, immediately from its beginning, or immediately and partway through the animation.

The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

It is often convenient to use the shorthand property animation to set all animation properties at once.

Syntax

/* Single animation */
animation-delay: 3s;
animation-delay: 0s;
animation-delay: -1500ms;

/* Multiple animations */
animation-delay: 2.1s, 480ms;

Values

<time>

The time offset, from the moment at which the animation is applied to the element, at which the animation should begin. This may be specified in either seconds (s) or milliseconds (ms). The unit is required.

A positive value indicates that the animation should begin after the specified amount of time has elapsed. A value of 0s, which is the default, indicates that the animation should begin as soon as it's applied.

A negative value causes the animation to begin immediately, but partway through its cycle. For example, if you specify -1s as the animation delay time, the animation will begin immediately but will start 1 second into the animation sequence. If you specify a negative value for the animation delay, but the starting value is implicit, the starting value is taken from the moment the animation is applied to the element.

Formal definition

Formal syntax

<time>#

Examples

See CSS animations for examples.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Using CSS animations
• JavaScript AnimationEvent API