Question

Utilities for setting the maximum width of an element.

Quick reference

Class	Properties
max-w-0	max-width: 0px;
max-w-px	max-width: 1px;
max-w-0.5	max-width: 0.125rem; /* 2px */
max-w-1	max-width: 0.25rem; /* 4px */
max-w-1.5	max-width: 0.375rem; /* 6px */
max-w-2	max-width: 0.5rem; /* 8px */
max-w-2.5	max-width: 0.625rem; /* 10px */
max-w-3	max-width: 0.75rem; /* 12px */
max-w-3.5	max-width: 0.875rem; /* 14px */
max-w-4	max-width: 1rem; /* 16px */
max-w-5	max-width: 1.25rem; /* 20px */
max-w-6	max-width: 1.5rem; /* 24px */
max-w-7	max-width: 1.75rem; /* 28px */
max-w-8	max-width: 2rem; /* 32px */
max-w-9	max-width: 2.25rem; /* 36px */
max-w-10	max-width: 2.5rem; /* 40px */
max-w-11	max-width: 2.75rem; /* 44px */
max-w-12	max-width: 3rem; /* 48px */
max-w-14	max-width: 3.5rem; /* 56px */
max-w-16	max-width: 4rem; /* 64px */
max-w-20	max-width: 5rem; /* 80px */
max-w-24	max-width: 6rem; /* 96px */
max-w-28	max-width: 7rem; /* 112px */
max-w-32	max-width: 8rem; /* 128px */
max-w-36	max-width: 9rem; /* 144px */
max-w-40	max-width: 10rem; /* 160px */
max-w-44	max-width: 11rem; /* 176px */
max-w-48	max-width: 12rem; /* 192px */
max-w-52	max-width: 13rem; /* 208px */
max-w-56	max-width: 14rem; /* 224px */
max-w-60	max-width: 15rem; /* 240px */
max-w-64	max-width: 16rem; /* 256px */
max-w-72	max-width: 18rem; /* 288px */
max-w-80	max-width: 20rem; /* 320px */
max-w-96	max-width: 24rem; /* 384px */
max-w-none	max-width: none;
max-w-xs	max-width: 20rem; /* 320px */
max-w-sm	max-width: 24rem; /* 384px */
max-w-md	max-width: 28rem; /* 448px */
max-w-lg	max-width: 32rem; /* 512px */
max-w-xl	max-width: 36rem; /* 576px */
max-w-2xl	max-width: 42rem; /* 672px */
max-w-3xl	max-width: 48rem; /* 768px */
max-w-4xl	max-width: 56rem; /* 896px */
max-w-5xl	max-width: 64rem; /* 1024px */
max-w-6xl	max-width: 72rem; /* 1152px */
max-w-7xl	max-width: 80rem; /* 1280px */
max-w-full	max-width: 100%;
max-w-min	max-width: min-content;
max-w-max	max-width: max-content;
max-w-fit	max-width: fit-content;
max-w-prose	max-width: 65ch;
max-w-screen-sm	max-width: 640px;
max-w-screen-md	max-width: 768px;
max-w-screen-lg	max-width: 1024px;
max-w-screen-xl	max-width: 1280px;
max-w-screen-2xl	max-width: 1536px;

Basic usage

Setting the maximum width

Set the maximum width of an element using the max-w-* utilities.

max-w-96 max-w-80 max-w-64 max-w-48 max-w-40 max-w-32 max-w-24

<div>
  <div class="w-full max-w-96 ...">max-w-96</div>
  <div class="w-full max-w-80 ...">max-w-80</div>
  <div class="w-full max-w-64 ...">max-w-64</div>
  <div class="w-full max-w-48 ...">max-w-48</div>
  <div class="w-full max-w-40 ...">max-w-40</div>
  <div class="w-full max-w-32 ...">max-w-32</div>
  <div class="w-full max-w-24 ...">max-w-24</div>
</div>

Sizing large elements

Above 24rem, the max-w-* utilities use a named scale instead of a numeric scale to make the values easier to guess.

Andrew Alfred Assistant to the Traveling Secretary

<div class="max-w-md ...">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

Reading width

The max-w-prose utility gives an element a max-width optimized for readability and adapts based on the font size.

text-sm

Oh yeah. It's the best part. It's crunchy, it's explosive, it's where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does it's own thing. I'll tell you. That's a million dollar idea right there. Just sell the tops.

text-base

Oh yeah. It's the best part. It's crunchy, it's explosive, it's where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does it's own thing. I'll tell you. That's a million dollar idea right there. Just sell the tops.

text-xl

Oh yeah. It's the best part. It's crunchy, it's explosive, it's where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does it's own thing. I'll tell you. That's a million dollar idea right there. Just sell the tops.

<div class="text-sm max-w-prose ...">
  <p>Oh yeah. It's the best part. It's crunchy, it's explosive, it's where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does it's own thing. I'll tell you. That's a million dollar idea right there. Just sell the tops.</p>
</div>

<div class="text-base max-w-prose ...">
  <p>Oh yeah. It's the best part. It's crunchy, it's explosive, it's where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does it's own thing. I'll tell you. That's a million dollar idea right there. Just sell the tops.</p>
</div>

<div class="text-xl max-w-prose ...">
  <p>Oh yeah. It's the best part. It's crunchy, it's explosive, it's where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does it's own thing. I'll tell you. That's a million dollar idea right there. Just sell the tops.</p>
</div>

Constraining to your breakpoints

The max-w-screen-* classes can be used to give an element a max-width matching a specific breakpoint. These values are automatically derived from the theme.screens section of your tailwind.config.js file.

<div class="max-w-screen-2xl">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

---

Applying conditionally

Hover, focus, and other states

Tailwind lets you conditionally apply utility classes in different states using variant modifiers. For example, use hover:max-w-lg to only apply the max-w-lg utility on hover.

<div class="max-w-sm hover:max-w-lg">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

For a complete list of all available state modifiers, check out the Hover, Focus, & Other States documentation.

Breakpoints and media queries

You can also use variant modifiers to target media queries like responsive breakpoints, dark mode, prefers-reduced-motion, and more. For example, use md:max-w-lg to apply the max-w-lg utility at only medium screen sizes and above.

<div class="max-w-sm md:max-w-lg">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

To learn more, check out the documentation on Responsive Design, Dark Mode and other media query modifiers.

---

Using custom values

Customizing your theme

By default, Tailwind’s maximum width scale is a combination of the default spacing scale as well as an additional set of named sizes for large elements exclusive to the max-w-* utilities.

You can customize values in the global spacing scale by editing theme.spacing or theme.extend.spacing in your tailwind.config.js file.

tailwind.config.js

module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      spacing: {
        '128': '32rem',
      }
    }
  }
}

To customize values for just the max-w-* utilities, use the theme.maxWidth section of your tailwind.config.js file.

tailwind.config.js

module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      maxWidth: {
        '8xl': '96rem',
      }
    }
  }
}

Note that values defined in theme.maxWidth take precedence over values defined in theme.spacing, so adding a custom value to theme.spacing that matches one of the default named sizes (like lg or xl) will not affect the corresponding max-w-* utility.

Don’t override named sizes under theme.spacing

tailwind.config.js

module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      spacing: {
        'lg': '30rem',
      }
    }
  }
}

Use theme.maxWidth to override named sizes

tailwind.config.js

module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      maxWidth: {
        'lg': '30rem',
      }
    }
  }
}

Arbitrary values

If you need to use a one-off max-width value that doesn’t make sense to include in your theme, use square brackets to generate a property on the fly using any arbitrary value.

<div class="max-w-[220px]">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

Learn more about arbitrary value support in the arbitrary values documentation.