How can I fill a text with an image in HTML?

Question

Let's say I have an image like this:

and I want to fill an <h1> tag with that image to look something like this:

I guess I could do something like this to start...

div {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  background: url(https://i.stack.imgur.com/n8gtc.jpg) 50% 0 no-repeat;
  background-size: cover;
}

h1 {
  color: white;
  text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 1px black, 1px 0 black, 0 -1px black;
}

<div>
  <h1>404</h1>
</div>

Should I have another 'absolute' div white covering the image and a transparent font over? Does anyone know how to accomplish this?

look at background-clip:text; – G-Cyrillus Jul 18 '19 at 19:30 — G-Cyrillus, Jul 18 '19 at 19:30

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

background-clip might be an option

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/background-clip

The background-clip CSS property sets whether an element's background extends underneath its border box, padding box, or content box.

div {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
}

h1 {
  color: transparent;
  font-size: 28vmax;
  background-size: cover;
  background: url(https://i.stack.imgur.com/n8gtc.jpg) 50% 0 no-repeat;
  background-clip: text;
}

<div>
  <h1>404</h1>
</div>

or mix-blend-mode:

https://css-tricks.com/almanac/properties/m/mix-blend-mode/

The mix-blend-mode property defines how an element’s content should blend with its background. This means that any images or text, borders or headings will be influenced by this property.

also

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/mix-blend-mode

The mix-blend-mode CSS property sets how an element's content should blend with the content of the element's parent and the element's background.

* {
  margin: 0;
}

div {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100vh;
  background: url(https://i.stack.imgur.com/n8gtc.jpg) 50% 0 no-repeat;
  background-size: cover;
}

h1 {
  font-size: 15vmax;
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  justify-content: center;
  height: 100%;
  width: 100%;
  color: black;
  text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 1px black, 1px 0 black, 0 -1px black;
  background: white;
  mix-blend-mode: screen;
}

<div>
  <h1>404</h1>
</div>

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 18 '19 at 19:35

You can try using -webkit-background-clip: text;

This is called Knockout Text but you should be able to get the outcome you want with it.

Here are a few examples, but it might be easier to do it in photoshop and then insert the image. (Just an alternative)

/* 
  Based from this article from Divya Manian - 
  http://nimbupani.com/using-background-clip-for-text-with-css-fallback.html
*/

* {
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
}

*,
:before,
:after {
    -webkit-box-sizing: border-box;
       -moz-box-sizing: border-box;
            box-sizing: border-box;
}

html,
body {
    min-height: 100%;
}

body {
    font-family: 'Oswald', sans-serif;
    color: #fff;
    background-color: #000;
}

.wrapper {
    text-align: center;
}

.title {
    font-size: 2em;
    position: relative;
    margin: 0 auto 1em;
    padding: 1em 1em .25em 1em;
    text-align: center;
    text-transform: uppercase;
}
.title:after {
    position: absolute;
    top: 100%;
    left: 50%;
    width: 240px;
    height: 4px;
    margin-left: -120px;
    content: '';
    background-color: #fff;
}

/* Clip text element */
.clip-text {
    font-size: 6em;
    font-weight: bold;
    line-height: 1;
    position: relative;
    display: inline-block;
    margin: .25em;
    padding: .5em .75em;
    text-align: center;
    /* Color fallback */
    color: #fff;
    -webkit-background-clip: text;

    -webkit-text-fill-color: transparent;
}

.clip-text:before,
.clip-text:after {
    position: absolute;
    content: '';
}

/* Background */
.clip-text:before {
    z-index: -2;
    top: 0;
    right: 0;
    bottom: 0;
    left: 0;
    background-image: inherit;
}

/* Text Background (black zone) */
.clip-text:after {
    position: absolute;
    z-index: -1;
    top: .125em;
    right: .125em;
    bottom: .125em;
    left: .125em;
    background-color: #000;
}

/* Change the background position to display letter when the black zone isn't here */
.clip-text--no-textzone:before {
    background-position: -.75em 0;
}

.clip-text--no-textzone:after {
    content: none;
}

/* Use Background-size cover for photo background and no-repeat background */
.clip-text--cover,
.clip-text--cover:before {
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    -webkit-background-size: cover;
            background-size: cover;
  background-position: 50% 50%;
}

/* Background image from http://thepatternlibrary.com/ and http://lorempixel.com */
.clip-text_one {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random);
}

.clip-text_two {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?grayscale);
}

.clip-text_tree {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?grayscale&random=2);
}

.clip-text_four {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?grayscale&blur=3);
}

.clip-text_five {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?grayscale);
}

.clip-text_six {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=3);
}

.clip-text_seven {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=4);
}

.clip-text_eight {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=6);
}

.clip-text_nine {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=5);
}

.clip-text_ten {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=7);
}

.clip-text_eleven {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=8);
    background-size: cover;
}

.clip-text_twelve {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=9);
}

.clip-text_thirteen {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=10);
}

.clip-text_fourteen {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=11);
}

.clip-text_fifteen {
    background-image: url(https://picsum.photos/480/200?random=12);
}

<div class="wrapper">
      <p class="title">Play with background-clip text</p>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_one">TEST</div>
  <div class="clip-text clip-text_fifteen clip-text--no-textzone">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_twelve clip-text--cover">TEST</div>
  <div class="clip-text clip-text_tree clip-text--no-textzone">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_two">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_fourteen clip-text--cover">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_tree">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_eleven clip-text--cover">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_four">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_five">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_six">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_seven">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_eight">TEST</div>
      
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_nine">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_ten">TEST</div>
      <div class="clip-text clip-text_thirteen clip-text--cover">TEST</div>
  </div>

Let me know if you have any questions! The implementation is fairly straight forward I made sure to include options for you to look at, here is a link for more information:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/background-clip

Please paste minimal code as required. Otherwise it makes so confusing. — MdFarzan, Aug 27 '22 at 05:41

How can I fill a text with an image in HTML?

2 Answers2