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background-attachment decides what a CSS background image is attached to: the element, the browser viewport, or the element’s scrollable contents. Use scroll for the normal element-based behavior, fixed for a viewport-anchored image, and local when the image should move with content inside an overflowing element.

What background-attachment controls

The property defines how each background layer moves when a page or an element scrolls. Its initial value is scroll, it is not inherited, and it applies to all elements (including ::first-letter and ::first-line). The animation type is discrete, so changing values does not interpolate smoothly. See the MDN property reference.

Value Background reference Use it when
scroll The element itself You want conventional backgrounds. The image moves as the element moves with page scrolling, but it does not follow content scrolling inside that element.
fixed The viewport You need a viewport-anchored effect that remains in place while the document or an element scrolls.
local The element’s scrollable contents You want the image to travel with content inside an element that has its own scrolling mechanism.

These distinctions are most visible when an element has overflowing content and a scrollbar. The MDN backgrounds guide demonstrates that setup.

Choosing the right value

Use scroll for the default behavior

scroll attaches the background to the element’s box. As the element moves through the page, its background moves with it. If the element itself scrolls its contents, however, the background remains associated with the element rather than moving through the content.

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  background-image: url("pattern.png");
  background-attachment: scroll;
}

Use fixed for a viewport-anchored background

With fixed, the viewport is the reference. The background does not move when the element or its contents scroll. This is useful for a page-level visual effect, but verify the result on the browsers and devices you support. For a fixed background, background-origin is ignored, as documented by MDN.

body {
  background: url("mountains.jpg") center / cover no-repeat;
  background-attachment: fixed;
}

Use local inside a scrolling container

local ties the background to the element’s scrollable area. When the element has overflow and its contents are scrolled, the image moves with those contents rather than staying on the element’s frame.

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.reading-pane {
  max-height: 20rem;
  overflow: auto;
  background-image: url("paper-texture.png");
  background-attachment: local;
}

Without an actual scrolling mechanism—such as a constrained size combined with overflow: auto or overflow: scroll—the difference between local and scroll may not be apparent.

Syntax and multiple background images

The property accepts one keyword or a comma-separated list. When several background images are present, each attachment value pairs with the image in the same list position. The list order follows the order of background-image layers.

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.layered {
  background-image: url("glow.png"), url("grid.png");
  background-attachment: fixed, scroll;
}

Here, glow.png is viewport-relative and grid.png uses normal element attachment. If fewer attachment values are supplied than image layers, CSS repeats the value list as needed according to background-layer rules; keeping one value per layer makes the intended mapping clear.

A practical decision process

  1. Identify what should stay in place. Choose fixed if the viewport should be the reference, local if the image should move through an element’s scrolling content, or scroll for ordinary element attachment.
  2. Confirm where scrolling occurs. For local, give the element a scrollable area with a constrained dimension and an appropriate overflow value.
  3. Check related background properties. Set background-position, background-size, and background-repeat to control the image’s appearance. Remember that background-origin does not define the reference for a fixed background.
  4. Test target devices. MDN lists the property as Baseline Widely available, with availability across browsers since July 2015, while noting that some behavior can vary. Validate viewport-fixed effects particularly on mobile browsers and in layouts with nested scrolling.
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Common mistakes and fixes

Expecting scroll to follow inner content

If a panel has overflow: auto and the image appears stationary while the text scrolls, that is the defined scroll behavior. Change the value to local when the background must move with the panel’s contents.

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Using local without overflow

A non-scrolling element provides no internal scroll movement to observe. Add a real overflow scenario, or use scroll if the image only needs to remain attached to the element.

Assuming fixed means fixed to the element

fixed means fixed to the viewport, not to a card, section, or scrolling panel. For an element-relative background, use scroll; for content-relative movement, use local.

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Forgetting layer order

In a multi-background declaration, attachment values map by position. Reorder the values whenever you reorder the images, and keep the two lists easy to compare.

Specification and compatibility context

The CSS Working Group’s CSS Backgrounds and Borders Module Level 3 editor’s draft, dated December 16, 2025, defines the background-layer behavior; it is a work-in-progress draft rather than a guarantee that every detail is identical across implementations. For deployment decisions, combine that definition with testing in the browsers and devices your site supports.

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