Given a transparent PNG displaying a simple shape in white, is it possible to somehow change the color of this through CSS? Some kind of overlay or what not?
18 Answers
650
votes
You can use filters with -webkit-filter and filter:
Filters are relatively new to browsers but supported in over 90% of browsers according to the following CanIUse table: https://caniuse.com/#feat=css-filters
You can change an image to grayscale, sepia and lot more (look at the example).
So you can now change the color of a PNG file with filters.
body {
background-color:#03030a;
min-width: 800px;
min-height: 400px
}
img {
width:20%;
float:left;
margin:0;
}
/*Filter styles*/
.saturate { filter: saturate(3); }
.grayscale { filter: grayscale(100%); }
.contrast { filter: contrast(160%); }
.brightness { filter: brightness(0.25); }
.blur { filter: blur(3px); }
.invert { filter: invert(100%); }
.sepia { filter: sepia(100%); }
.huerotate { filter: hue-rotate(180deg); }
.rss.opacity { filter: opacity(50%); }<!--- img src http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Mona_Lisa%2C_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci%2C_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg/500px-Mona_Lisa%2C_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci%2C_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg -->
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="original">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="saturate" class="saturate">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="grayscale" class="grayscale">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="contrast" class="contrast">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="brightness" class="brightness">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="blur" class="blur">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="invert" class="invert">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="sepia" class="sepia">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="huerotate" class="huerotate">
<img alt="Mona Lisa" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/40997/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-la-gioconda-oil-painting-40997.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=3&h=750&w=1260" title="opacity" class="rss opacity">250
votes
I found this great codepen example that you insert your hex color value and it returns the needed filter to apply this color to png
CSS filter generator to convert from black to target hex color
for example i needed my png to have the following color #1a9790
then you have to apply the following filter to you png
filter: invert(48%) sepia(13%) saturate(3207%) hue-rotate(130deg) brightness(95%) contrast(80%);
59
votes
You might want to take a look at Icon fonts. http://css-tricks.com/examples/IconFont/
EDIT: I'm using Font-Awesome on my latest project. You can even bootstrap it. Simply put this in your <head>:
<link href="//netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/3.2.1/css/font-awesome.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
<!-- And if you want to support IE7, add this aswell -->
<link href="//netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/3.2.1/css/font-awesome-ie7.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
And then go ahead and add some icon-links like this:
<a class="icon-thumbs-up"></a>
Here's the full cheat sheet
--edit--
Font-Awesome uses different class names in the new version, probably because this makes the CSS files drastically smaller, and to avoid ambiguous css classes. So now you should use:
<a class="fa fa-thumbs-up"></a>
EDIT 2:
Just found out github also uses its own icon font: Octicons It's free to download. They also have some tips on how to create your very own icon fonts.
37
votes
I've been able to do this using SVG filter. You can write a filter that multiplies the color of source image with the color you want to change to. In the code snippet below, flood-color is the color we want to change image color to (which is Red in this case.) feComposite tells the filter how we're processing the color. The formula for feComposite with arithmetic is (k1*i1*i2 + k2*i1 + k3*i2 + k4) where i1 and i2 are input colors for in/in2 accordingly. So specifying only k1=1 means it will do just i1*i2, which means multiplying both input colors together.
Note: This only works with HTML5 since this is using inline SVG. But I think you might be able to make this work with older browser by putting SVG in a separate file. I haven't tried that approach yet.
Here's the snippet:
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" width="60" height="90" style="float:left">
<defs>
<filter id="colorMask1">
<feFlood flood-color="#ff0000" result="flood" />
<feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="flood" operator="arithmetic" k1="1" k2="0" k3="0" k4="0" />
</filter>
</defs>
<image width="100%" height="100%" xlink:href="http://i.stack.imgur.com/OyP0g.jpg" filter="url(#colorMask1)" />
</svg>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" width="60" height="90" style="float:left">
<defs>
<filter id="colorMask2">
<feFlood flood-color="#00ff00" result="flood" />
<feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="flood" operator="arithmetic" k1="1" k2="0" k3="0" k4="0" />
</filter>
</defs>
<image width="100%" height="100%" xlink:href="http://i.stack.imgur.com/OyP0g.jpg" filter="url(#colorMask2)" />
</svg>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" width="60" height="90" style="float:left">
<defs>
<filter id="colorMask3">
<feFlood flood-color="#0000ff" result="flood" />
<feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="flood" operator="arithmetic" k1="1" k2="0" k3="0" k4="0" />
</filter>
</defs>
<image width="100%" height="100%" xlink:href="http://i.stack.imgur.com/OyP0g.jpg" filter="url(#colorMask3)" />
</svg>34
votes
22
votes
22
votes
Yes :)
Surfin' Safari - Blog Archive » CSS Masks
WebKit now supports alpha masks in CSS. Masks allow you to overlay the content of a box with a pattern that can be used to knock out portions of that box in the final display. In other words, you can clip to complex shapes based off the alpha of an image.
[...]
We have introduced new properties to provide Web designers with a lot of control over these masks and how they are applied. The new properties are analogous to the background and border-image properties that already exist.-webkit-mask (background) -webkit-mask-attachment (background-attachment) -webkit-mask-clip (background-clip) -webkit-mask-origin (background-origin) -webkit-mask-image (background-image) -webkit-mask-repeat (background-repeat) -webkit-mask-composite (background-composite) -webkit-mask-box-image (border-image)
20
votes
Think I have a solution for this that's a) exactly what you were looking for 5 years ago, and b) is a bit simpler than the other code options here.
With any white png (eg, white icon on transparent background), you can add an ::after selector to recolor.
.icon {
background: url(img/icon.png); /* Your icon */
position: relative; /* Allows an absolute positioned psuedo element */
}
.icon::after{
position: absolute; /* Positions psuedo element relative to .icon */
width: 100%; /* Same dimensions as .icon */
height: 100%;
content: ""; /* Allows psuedo element to show */
background: #EC008C; /* The color you want the icon to change to */
mix-blend-mode: multiply; /* Only apply color on top of white, use screen if icon is black */
}
See this codepen (applying the color swap on hover): http://codepen.io/chrscblls/pen/bwAXZO
19
votes
In most browsers, you can use filters :
on both
<img>elements and background images of other elementsand set them either statically in your CSS, or dynamically using JavaScript
See demos below.
<img> elements
You can apply this technique to a <img> element :
#original, #changed {
width: 45%;
padding: 2.5%;
float: left;
}
#changed {
-webkit-filter : hue-rotate(180deg);
filter : hue-rotate(180deg);
}<img id="original" src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/rfar2.jpg" />
<img id="changed" src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/rfar2.jpg" />Background images
You can apply this technique to a background image :
#original, #changed {
background: url('http://i.stack.imgur.com/kaKzj.jpg');
background-size: cover;
width: 30%;
margin: 0 10% 0 10%;
padding-bottom: 28%;
float: left;
}
#changed {
-webkit-filter : hue-rotate(180deg);
filter : hue-rotate(180deg);
}<div id="original"></div>
<div id="changed"></div>JavaScript
You can use JavaScript to set a filter at runtime :
var element = document.getElementById("changed");
var filter = 'hue-rotate(120deg) saturate(2.4)';
element.style['-webkit-filter'] = filter;
element.style['filter'] = filter;#original, #changed {
margin: 0 10%;
width: 30%;
float: left;
background: url('http://i.stack.imgur.com/856IQ.png');
background-size: cover;
padding-bottom: 25%;
}<div id="original"></div>
<div id="changed"></div>11
votes
When changing a picture from black to white, or white to black the hue rotate filter does not work, because black and white are not technically colors. Instead, black and white color changes (from black to white or vice-versa) must be done with the invert filter property.
.img1 {
filter: invert(100%);
}
9
votes
7
votes
I required a specific colour, so filter didn't work for me.
Instead, I created a div, exploiting CSS multiple background images and the linear-gradient function (which creates an image itself). If you use the overlay blend mode, your actual image will be blended with the generated "gradient" image containing your desired colour (here, #BADA55)
.colored-image {
background-image: linear-gradient(to right, #BADA55, #BADA55), url("https://i.imgur.com/lYXT8R6.png");
background-blend-mode: overlay;
background-size: contain;
width: 200px;
height: 200px;
}<div class="colored-image"></div>6
votes
Answering because I was looking for a solution for this.
the pen in @chrscblls answer works well if you have a white or black background, but mine wasn't. Aslo, the images were generated with ng-repeat, so I couldn't have their url in my css AND you can't use ::after on img tags.
So, I figured a work around and thought it might help people if they too stumble here.
So what I did is pretty much the same with three main differences:
- the url being in my img tag, I put it(and a label) in another div on which ::after will work.
- the 'mix-blend-mode' is set at 'difference' instead of 'multiply' or 'screen'.
- I added a ::before with exactly the same value so the ::after would do the 'difference' of the 'difference' made by the ::before and cancelled it-self.
To change it from black to white or white to black the background color need to be white. From black to colors, you can choose whatever color. From white to colors tho, you'll need to choose the opposite color of the one you want.
.divClass{
position: relative;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
text-align: left;
}
.divClass:hover::after, .divClass:hover::before{
position: absolute;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
background: #FFF;
mix-blend-mode: difference;
content: "";
}
4
votes
body{
background: #333 url(/images/classy_fabric.png);
width: 430px;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 30px;
}
.preview{
background: #ccc;
width: 415px;
height: 430px;
border: solid 10px #fff;
}
input[type='radio'] {
-webkit-appearance: none;
-moz-appearance: none;
width: 25px;
height: 25px;
margin: 5px 0 5px 5px;
background-size: 225px 70px;
position: relative;
float: left;
display: inline;
top: 0;
border-radius: 3px;
z-index: 99999;
cursor: pointer;
box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #000;
}
input[type='radio']:hover{
-webkit-filter: opacity(.4);
filter: opacity(.4);
}
.red{
background: red;
}
.red:checked{
background: linear-gradient(brown, red)
}
.green{
background: green;
}
.green:checked{
background: linear-gradient(green, lime);
}
.yellow{
background: yellow;
}
.yellow:checked{
background: linear-gradient(orange, yellow);
}
.purple{
background: purple;
}
.pink{
background: pink;
}
.purple:checked{
background: linear-gradient(purple, violet);
}
.red:checked ~ img{
-webkit-filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 red);
filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 red);
}
.green:checked ~ img{
-webkit-filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 green);
filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 green);
}
.yellow:checked ~ img{
-webkit-filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 yellow);
filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 yellow);
}
.purple:checked ~ img{
-webkit-filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 purple);
filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 purple);
}
.pink:checked ~ img{
-webkit-filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 pink);
filter: opacity(.5) drop-shadow(0 0 0 pink);
}
img{
width: 394px;
height: 375px;
position: relative;
}
.label{
width: 150px;
height: 75px;
position: absolute;
top: 170px;
margin-left: 130px;
}
::selection{
background: #000;
}<div class="preview">
<input class='red' name='color' type='radio' />
<input class='green' name='color' type='radio' />
<input class='pink' name='color' type='radio' />
<input checked class='yellow' name='color' type='radio' />
<input class='purple' name='color' type='radio' />
<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/bd7VJ.png"/>
</div>3
votes
There's no need for a whole font set if you only need one icon, plus I feel it being more "clean" as an individual element. So, for this purpose, in HTML5 you can place a SVG directly inside the document flow. Then you can define a class in your .CSS stylesheet and access its background color with the fill property:
Working fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/qmsj0ez1/
Note that, in the example, I've used :hoverto illustrate the behaviour; if you just want to change color for the "normal" state, you should remove the pseudoclass.
2
votes
To literally change the color, you could incorporate a CSS transition with a -webkit-filter where when something happens you would invoke the -webkit-filter of your choice. For example:
img {
-webkit-filter:grayscale(0%);
transition: -webkit-filter .3s linear;
}
img:hover
{
-webkit-filter:grayscale(75%);
}
0
votes
Use this great codepen example that you insert your hex color value and it returns the needed filter to apply this color to png
CSS filter generator to convert from black to target hex color
for example i needed my png to have the following color #EF8C57
then you have to apply the following filter to you png Result:
filter: invert(76%) sepia(30%) saturate(3461%) hue-rotate(321deg) brightness(98%) contrast(91%);
background-colorCSS property. You can create non-transparent part that will be fixed, and transparent part of image which will be filled by any color you like via CSS. Is that what you want to achieve? – jakub.g