background-repeat
CSS property · 19 supported, 0 partial, 2 unsupported across 21 clients
background-repeat is safe in 19 of 21 email clients as of Sep 2, 2026, the holdouts are Outlook (New), Outlook Classic.
- 7/7 webmail, 4/6 desktop, 8/8 mobile clients support background-repeat fully.
- Unsupported in Outlook (New), Outlook Classic.
- Outlook Classic (Word engine, supported to at least 2029) does not fully support background-repeat, and its replacement changes little here; see the deprecation diff.
- Across all clients, only 6 of 298 tracked HTML/CSS features render identically everywhere.
Source: caniemail.com (MIT), via the Emailens engine. Last tested upstream Feb 28, 2019, synced by Emailens Sep 2, 2026.
Client Support
| Client | Category | Engine | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gmail | webmail | Gmail Web | Supported |
| Gmail Android | mobile | Gmail Mobile | Supported |
| Gmail iOS | mobile | Gmail Mobile | Supported |
| Outlook 365 | webmail | Outlook Web | Supported |
| Outlook (New) | desktop | Outlook Web | UnsupportedSee caveat 1 |
| Outlook Classic | desktop | Microsoft Word | Unsupported |
| Outlook iOS | mobile | Outlook Mobile | Supported |
| Outlook Android | mobile | Outlook Mobile | Supported |
| Outlook for Mac | desktop | WebKit | Supported |
| Apple Mail | desktop | WebKit | Supported |
| Apple Mail iOS | mobile | WebKit | Supported |
| Yahoo Mail | webmail | Yahoo | SupportedSee caveat 2 |
| Yahoo Mail Android | mobile | Yahoo | SupportedSee caveat 2 |
| Yahoo Mail iOS | mobile | Yahoo | SupportedSee caveat 2 |
| Samsung Mail | mobile | Samsung | Supported |
| Thunderbird | desktop | Gecko | Supported |
| HEY Mail | webmail | WebKit | Supported |
| Proton Mail | webmail | Proton | Supported |
| AOL Mail | webmail | AOL | SupportedSee caveat 2 |
| Fastmail | webmail | Fastmail | Supported |
| Superhuman | desktop | Blink | Supported |
Documented caveats (2)
- 1.Outlook (New): Background images repetition can be used in VML with the
type="tile"ortype="frame"attribute. See VML documentation. - 2.Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Yahoo Mail iOS, AOL Mail: Partial. Does not support multiple values. The comma between two values is removed.
Caveats recorded by caniemail.com (MIT) and carried verbatim, one entry per wording rather than per client.
Client-by-client behaviour for background-repeat
Fully supports background-repeat (19): Gmail, Gmail Android, Gmail iOS, Outlook 365, Outlook iOS, Outlook Android, Outlook for Mac, Apple Mail, Apple Mail iOS, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Mail Android, Yahoo Mail iOS, Samsung Mail, Thunderbird, HEY Mail, Proton Mail, AOL Mail, Fastmail, Superhuman.
No support (2): Outlook (New), Outlook Classic. Plan fallbacks for these clients before relying on background-repeat in production sends.
Fixes & Workarounds
Outlook (New)
Unsupported"background-repeat" is not supported in this email client.
Outlook Classic
Unsupported"background-repeat" is not supported in this email client.
Related Features
Check your own HTML for background-repeat
Paste your own, or run the sample below. Analyzed in this page, with no signup and nothing stored.
Test your background-repeat layout across 21 email clients
Preview rendering, catch CSS issues, and see how background-repeat displays across Outlook, Gmail, and Apple Mail. Free, no account needed.
Instant live preview · No signup required · 21 email engines
Last tested upstream: · Last synced by Emailens:
caniemail.com (MIT) records Feb 28, 2019 as the last time background-repeat was tested in a real client, 7 years before this sync. Syncing copies that result forward, it does not re-test it. Carried in @emailens/engine data v0.12.2.