font-style

The font-style CSS property specifies whether a font should be styled with a normal, italic, or oblique face from its font-family.

font-style: normal;
font-style: italic;
font-style: oblique;
/* Global values */
font-style: inherit;
font-style: initial;
font-style: unset;

Italic font faces are generally cursive in nature, usually using less horizontal space than their unstyled counterparts, while oblique faces are usually just sloped versions of the regular face. When the specified style is not available, both italic and oblique faces are simulated by artificially sloping the glyphs of the regular face (use font-synthesis to control this behavior).

Initial value	`normal`
Applies to	all elements. It also applies to `::first-letter` and `::first-line`.
Inherited	yes
Media	visual
Computed value	as specified
Animation type	discrete
Canonical order	the unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar

Syntax

The font-style property is specified as a single keyword chosen from the list of values below.

Values

normal: Selects a font that is classified as normal within a font-family.
italic: Selects a font that is classified as italic. If no italic version of the face is available, one classified as oblique is used instead. If neither is available, the style is artificially simulated.
oblique: Selects a font that is classified as oblique. If no oblique version of the face is available, one classified as italic is used instead. If neither is available, the style is artificially simulated.

Formal syntax

normal | italic | oblique

Examples

Font styles

<p class="normal">This paragraph is normal.</p>
<p class="italic">This paragraph is italic.</p>
<p class="oblique">This paragraph is oblique.</p>

.normal {
  font-style: normal;
}
.italic {
  font-style: italic;
}
.oblique {
  font-style: oblique;
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Fonts Module Level 3 The definition of 'font-style' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	No change
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'font-style' in that specification.	Recommendation	No change
CSS Level 1 The definition of 'font-style' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition

Feature	Chrome	Edge	Firefox (Gecko)	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari
Basic support	1.0	(Yes)	1.0 (1.7 or earlier) [1]	4.0	7.0	1.0

Feature	Android	Edge	Firefox Mobile (Gecko)	IE Phone	Opera Mobile	Safari Mobile
Basic support	1.0	(Yes)	1.0 (1) [1]	6.0	6.0	1.0

[1] Before Firefox 44, Gecko didn't distinguish oblique from italic. Since then, it uses the correct face, if available.