Blurry text after using CSS transform: scale(); in Chrome

I have had this problem a number of times and there seems to be 2 ways of fixing it (shown below). You can use either of these properties to fix the rendering, or both at the same time.

Backface visibility hidden fixes the problem as it simplifies the animation to just the front of the object, whereas the default state is the front and the back.

backface-visibility: hidden;

TranslateZ also works as it is a hack to add hardware acceleration to the animation.

transform: translateZ(0);

Both of these properties fix the problem that you are having but some people also like to add

-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased;

to their animated object. I find that it can change the rendering of a web font but feel free to experiment with that method too.

After trying everything else here with no luck, what finally fixed this issue for me was removing the will-change: transform; property. For some reason it caused horribly blurry looking scaling in Chrome, but not Firefox.

To improve the blurriness, esp. on Chrome, try doing this:

transform: perspective(1px) translateZ(0);
backface-visibility: hidden;

Perspective adds distance between the user and the z-plane, which technically scales the object, making the blurriness seem 'permanent'. The perspective(1px) above is like duck-tape because we're matching the blurriness we're trying to solve. You might have better luck with the css below:

transform: translateZ(0);
backface-visibility: hidden;

I found that adjusting the scale ratio helped slightly.

Using scale(1.048) over (1.05) seemed to generate a better approximation to a whole-pixel font size, reducing the sub-pixel blurring.

I also used translateZ(0) which seems to adjust Chrome's final rounding step in the transform animation. This is a plus for my onhover usage because it increases speed and reduces visual noise. For an onclick function however, I wouldn't use it because, the transformed font doesn't appear to be as crispy.

Instead of

transform: scale(1.5);

using

zoom : 150%;

fixes the text blurring problem in Chrome.

This must be a bug with Chrome (Version 56.0.2924.87), but the below fixes the bluriness for me when changing css properties in the console('.0'). I'll report it.

filter: blur(.0px)

I have found a much better and clean solution:

.element{
 transform:scale(0.5) 
 transform-origin: 100% 0;
}

or

.element{
 transform:scale(0.5) 
 transform-origin: 0% 0;
}

Thanks to this post: Preventing blurry rendering with transform: scale

Sunderls lead me to the answer. Except filter: scale does not exist, but filter: blur does.

Apply the next declarations to the elements that appear blurred (in my case they were inside a transformed element):

backface-visibility: hidden;    
-webkit-filter: blur(0);

It almost worked perfectly. "Almost" because i'm using a transition and while in transition, elements don't look perfect, but once the transition is done, they do.

In my case following code caused blurry font:

-webkit-transform: translate(-50%,-50%);
transform: translate(-50%,-50%);

and just adding zoom property fixed it for me. Play around with zoom, following worked for me:

zoom: 97%;   

I found out, that the problem occures on relative transforms in any way. translateX(50%), scale(1.1) or what ever. providing absolute values always works (does not produce blurry text(ures)).

None of the solutions mentions here worked, and I think there is not solution, yet (using Chrome 62.0.3202.94 while I am writing this).

In my case transform: translateY(-50%) translateX(-50%) causes the blur (I want to center a dialog).

To reach a bit more "absolute" values, I had to set decimal values to transform: translateY(-50.09%) translateX(-50.09%).

NOTE

I am quite sure, that this values vary on different screen sizes. I just wanted to share my experiences, in case it helps someone.

2019 Update
The Chrome display bug is still unfixed and though no fault of the patrons, none of the suggestions offered in the entirety of this website help to resolve the issue. I can concur that I have tried every single one of them in vain: only 1 comes close and that's the css rule: filter:blur(0); which eliminates the shifting of a container by 1px but does not resolve the blurred display bug of the container itself and any content it may have.

Here's the reality: there literally is no fix to this problem so here is a work around for fluid websites

CASE
I'm currently developing a fluid website and have 3 divs, all centered with hover effects and sharing percentage values in both the width and position. The Chrome bug occurs on the center container which is set to left:50%; and transform:translateX(-50%); a common setting.

EXAMPLE: First the HTML...

<div id="box1" class="box">
    Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry"s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
</div>

<div id="box2" class="box">
    Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry"s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
</div>

<div id="box3" class="box">
    Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry"s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
</div>

Here's the CSS where the Chrome bug occurs...

*{margin:0; padding:0; border:0; outline:0; box-sizing:border-box;  background:#505050;}
.box {position:absolute; border:1px solid #fff; border-radius:10px; width:26%; background:#8e1515; padding:25px; top:20px; font-size:12pt; color:#fff; overflow:hidden; text-align:center; transition:0.5s ease-in-out;}
.box:hover {background:#191616;}
.box:active {background:#191616;}
.box:focus {background:#191616;}
#box1 {left:5%;}
#box2 {left:50%; transform:translateX(-50%);} /* Bugged */
#box3 {right:5%;}

Here's the fixed css...

*{margin:0; padding:0; border:0; outline:0; box-sizing:border-box;  background:#505050;}
.box {position:absolute; border:1px solid #fff; border-radius:10px; width:26%; background:#8e1515; padding:25px; top:20px; font-size:12pt; color:#fff; overflow:hidden; text-align:center; transition:0.5s ease-in-out;}
.box:hover {background:#191616;}
.box:active {background:#191616;}
.box:focus {background:#191616;}
#box1 {left:5%;}
#box2 {left:37%;} /* Fixed */
#box3 {right:5%;}

Bugged fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/m9bgrunx/2/
Fixed fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/uoc6e2dm/2/

As you can see a small amount of tweaking to the CSS should reduce or eliminate the requirement to use transform for positioning. This could also apply to fixed width websites as well as fluid.

I have this same problem. I fixed this using:

.element {
  display: table
}

Try using zoom: 101%; for complex designs when you can't use a combination of zoom + scale.

Another fix to try i just found for blurry transforms (translate3d, scaleX) on Chrome is to set the element as "display: inline-table;". It seems to force pixel rounding in some case (on the X axis).

I read subpixel positioning under Chrome was intended and devs won't fix it.

It's important to add that this issue arises if the element which is being translated has a height with an odd number of pixels. So, if you have control over the height of the element, setting it to an even number will make the content appear crisp

None of above worked for me. I had this animation for popups:

@keyframes pulse {
  from {
    transform: scale3d(1, 1, 1);
  }
  50% {
    transform: scale3d(1.05, 1.05, 1.05);
  }
  to {
    transform: scale3d(1, 1, 1);
  }
}

In my case blurry effect was gone after applying this rule: -webkit-perspective: 1000; even though it is marked as unused in Chrome inspector.

None of the above worked for me.

It worked when I added perspective

ie from

transform : translate3d(-10px,-20px,0) scale3d(0.7,0.7, 1)

i changed to

transform : perspective(1px) translate3d(-10px,-20px,0) scale3d(0.7,0.7, 1)

I used a combination of all answers and this is what worked for me in the end:

.modal .modal--transition {
  display: inline-table;
  transform: perspective(1px) scale(1) translateZ(0);
  backface-visibility: hidden;
  -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased;
}

My solution was:

display: initial;

Then it was crispy sharp

I was facing the blurry text issue on Chrome but not on Firefox when I used transform: translate(-50%,-50%).

Well, I really tried a lot of workarounds like:

transform: perspective(1px);

filter: blur(0);

transform: translateZ(0);

backface-visibility: hidden;

None of these worked to me.

Finally, I made the height and width of the element even. It resolved the issue for me!!!

Note: It might depend from use case to use case. But surely worth a try!

I have tried a lot of examples from these answers unfortunately nothing help for Chrome Version 81.0.4044.138 I have added to transforming element instead

 transform-origin: 50% 50%;

this one

 transform-origin: 51% 51%;

it helps for me

So. I tried all the solutions above and nothing really worked. But!

I have a modal-root div in my index.html of my React App. I am rendering a Modal component (.modal) in it if it is necessary. First I positioned the modal itself fixed, making it top-left 50% and applied a transition(-50%, -50%) to get it centered.

I zoomed in-and-out and noticed the blurriness of the modal content if the zoom ratio of the Chrome browser was not 100%. It could be 110% or 90-80-75 etc. percent, doesn't matter. Apart from 100% zoom it was really blurry and ugly.

So I decided to get rid of the entire transition-based solution that I had before to center the child of the .modal element.

I am positioning my modal-root fixed, making it top-left-right-bottom 0, so it is always 100vh and wv. Then I made it a flex-container and positioned its child via align-items and justify-content centered.

But! There is always a but. The modal-root has a z-index: -1 on default. I decided to change it programmatically to 59 if the modal is opened. I also apply an overlay that makes the rest of the page darker, that is the .overlay which has a z-index of 60. The actual modal content (.modal) has a z-index of 61.

I also wanted to animate the entrance of that element when it appears so I am playing around with the margins, instead of applying any kind of transition to it. It's a cubic-bazier animation that handles that margin-top at the fitting percent within the animation but at the end it is margin-top 0 with no transition property.

It was a bit pity to have to rework the component but after testing it it works pretty fine.

Summary:

• Highest parent container fixed, covering the entire page
• Setting the highest parentcontainer's z-index -1 or [custom-value] depending on wanting to interacting with the modal (modal is open)
• Setting the container's z-index to -1 if the modal is closed
• Making the container a flex-container and position its child to the center
• Animating the child via margin values instead of transition

I hope it can be helpful for some of you folks :)

This is what worked for me:

body { perspective: 1px; }

I tried all the css suggestions without any luck. After some experimentation I found that if you replace the html element directly under the element being scaled with itself everything is crisp. Here is a react hook example:

const useChromeScaleHack = (ref: MutableRefObject<HTMLElement>, scale: number) => {
    if (!window.chrome) return

    useEffect(() => {
        if (scale > 1.09 && ref.current) {
            const el = ref.current
            el.replaceWith(el)
        }
    }, [scale])
}

const Comp = ({ scale, children }) => {
    const ref = useRef(null)
    useChromeScaleHack(ref, scale)
    return (
        <div
            style={{
                willChange: "transform",
                transform: `scale(${scale})`,
            }}
        >
            <div ref={ref}>{children}</div>
        </div>
    )
}

For me the problem was that my elements were using transformStyle: preserve-3d. I realized that this wasn't actually needed for the app and removing it fixed the blurriness.

I fixed my case by adding:

transform: perspective(-1px)

I removed this from my code - transform-style: preserve-3d; and added this- transform: perspective(1px) translateZ(0);

the blur went away!

FOR CHORME:

I´ve tried all suggestions here. But diden't work. My college found a great solution, that works better:

You should NOT scale past 1.0

And include translateZ(0) in the hover but NOT in the none-hover/initial position.

Example:

a {
    transition: all 500ms cubic-bezier(0.165, 0.840, 0.440, 1.000);
    transform: scale(0.8, 0.8);
}

a:hover {
    transform: translateZ(0)scale(1.0, 1.0);
}

In Chrome 74.0.3729.169, current as of 5-25-19, there doesn't seem to be any fix for blurring occurring at certain browser zoom levels caused by the transform. Even a simple TransformY(50px) will blur the element. This doesn't occur in current versions of Firefox, Edge or Safari, and it doesn't seem to occur at all zoom levels.

I have a div that has a small perspective shift on it to give a subtle 3D effect. The text in the div was blurring and I tried all the suggestions here to no avail.

Oddly, I found that setting 'filter: inherit;' on the text elements vastly improved the clarity. Though I can't understand why.

Here's my code in case it helps:

Html:

<div id="NavContainer">
    <div id="Nav">
        <label>Title</label>
        <nav>
            <a href="/">home</a>
            <a href="/link1">link1</a>
            <a href="/link2">link2</a>
        </nav>
    </div>
</div>

Css:

    #NavContainer {
        position: absolute;
        z-index: 1;
        top: 0;
        left: 20px;
        right: 20px;
        perspective: 80vw;
        perspective-origin: top center;
    }

    #Nav {
        text-align: right;
        transform: rotateX(-5deg);
    }

        #Nav > nav > a,
        #Nav > label {
            display: inline-block;
            filter: inherit;
        }

        #Nav > label {
            float: left;
            font-weight: bold;
        }