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CSS Box Model: Margin, Border, Padding, and Content Explained

CSS width can exceed its declared value because the default content-box model adds padding and borders outside it. Learn the box layers and when to use border-box.
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The CSS box model explains how an element’s content, padding, border, and margin determine its size and spacing. The key to fixing an element that renders wider than its CSS width is knowing what that width measures: by default, it measures content alone, while box-sizing: border-box includes padding and border.

What is the CSS box model?

CSS lays out each element as a rectangle with nested areas. From the center outward, they are content, padding, border, and margin.

  1. Content: Text, images, or other material inside the element.
  2. Padding: Inner space between the content and the border.
  3. Border: The edge surrounding the padding and content.
  4. Margin: Space outside the border, separating the element from other boxes.

Padding is inside the border; margin is outside it. MDN’s box model guide describes the layers in the same inside-out order.

Why is an element wider than its CSS width?

By default, box-sizing is content-box. With that model, width sets the content area only. Horizontal padding and borders are added beyond that width, so the rendered border box can be wider than the declared value.

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For example, MDN’s instructional example uses a 350px content width, 25px padding on each side, and a 5px border on each side:

350px + 25px + 25px + 5px + 5px = 410px

The result is a 410px border-box width, plus any margin outside it. The 410px does not include margin. See MDN’s worked box-model example.

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content-box vs. border-box

Model What declared width and height measure Effect of padding and border Margin
content-box (default) Content area Added outside the declared dimensions Outside the border box
border-box Content, padding, and border together Fit inside the declared dimensions Outside the border box

Setting border-box does not remove padding or borders. It counts them within the declared width and height instead. The MDN reference for box-sizing explains the property. The CSS Working Group’s CSS Box Sizing Module Level 3 is a draft specification; it notes that under border-box sizing, the content area cannot become negative. If padding and borders use up the declared dimension, the content box is floored at zero.

How to make declared widths include padding and borders

Apply box-sizing: border-box to the element whose dimensions you want to control. A common stylesheet rule applies it to all elements:

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

Now a rule such as width: 350px describes the combined content, padding, and border width. Margin remains outside that 350px. If you instead need a specific content width, use content-box or calculate the total by adding both sides’ padding and border.

How to calculate an element’s outside size

With content-box

For a horizontal border-box width, add the content width, left and right padding, and left and right border widths. Add margin only if you are calculating the space the margins occupy outside the border box.

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border-box width = content width + left/right padding + left/right border

With border-box

The declared width already includes content, padding, and border. Do not add padding or border again. Margin is still outside the declared width.

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For height

The same distinction applies vertically: content-box height excludes vertical padding and borders, while border-box height includes them. Margins are outside the border edges in either model.

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Why the gap between elements may not equal their margins added together

Margin is outside the border, but adjacent vertical margins can collapse. When margins collapse, they share space rather than always combining as a simple sum. As a result, the visible gap between two boxes is not invariably the sum of both margin declarations. MDN covers this behavior in its box model guide.

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