Overview

Containers

Containers are the most basic layout element in Bootstrap and are required when using our default grid system. Containers are used to contain, pad, and (sometimes) center the content within them. While containers can be nested, most layouts do not require a nested container.

Bootstrap comes with three different containers:

.container, which sets a max-width at each responsive breakpoint
.container-fluid, which is width: 100% at all breakpoints
.container-{breakpoint}, which is width: 100% until the specified breakpoint

The table below illustrates how each container’s max-width compares to the original .container and .container-fluid across each breakpoint.

See them in action and compare them in our Grid example.

	Extra small <576px	Small ≥576px	Medium ≥768px	Large ≥992px	Extra large ≥1200px
`.container`	100%	540px	720px	960px	1140px
`.container-sm`	100%	540px	720px	960px	1140px
`.container-md`	100%	100%	720px	960px	1140px
`.container-lg`	100%	100%	100%	960px	1140px
`.container-xl`	100%	100%	100%	100%	1140px
`.container-fluid`	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

All-in-one

Our default .container class is a responsive, fixed-width container, meaning its max-width changes at each breakpoint.

<div class="container">
  <!-- Content here -->
</div>

Fluid

Use .container-fluid for a full width container, spanning the entire width of the viewport.

<div class="container-fluid">
  ...
</div>

Responsive

Responsive containers are new in Bootstrap v4.4. They allow you to specify a class that is 100% wide until the specified breakpoint is reached, after which we apply max-widths for each of the higher breakpoints. For example, .container-sm is 100% wide to start until the sm breakpoint is reached, where it will scale up with md, lg, and xl.

<div class="container-sm">100% wide until small breakpoint</div>
<div class="container-md">100% wide until medium breakpoint</div>
<div class="container-lg">100% wide until large breakpoint</div>
<div class="container-xl">100% wide until extra large breakpoint</div>

Responsive breakpoints

Since Bootstrap is developed to be mobile first, we use a handful of media queries to create sensible breakpoints for our layouts and interfaces. These breakpoints are mostly based on minimum viewport widths and allow us to scale up elements as the viewport changes.

Bootstrap primarily uses the following media query ranges—or breakpoints—in our source Sass files for our layout, grid system, and components.

// Extra small devices (portrait phones, less than 576px)
// No media query for `xs` since this is the default in Bootstrap

// Small devices (landscape phones, 576px and up)
@media (min-width: 576px) { ... }

// Medium devices (tablets, 768px and up)
@media (min-width: 768px) { ... }

// Large devices (desktops, 992px and up)
@media (min-width: 992px) { ... }

// Extra large devices (large desktops, 1200px and up)
@media (min-width: 1200px) { ... }

Since we write our source CSS in Sass, all our media queries are available via Sass mixins:

// No media query necessary for xs breakpoint as it's effectively `@media (min-width: 0) { ... }`
@include media-breakpoint-up(sm) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-up(md) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-up(lg) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-up(xl) { ... }

// Example: Hide starting at `min-width: 0`, and then show at the `sm` breakpoint
.custom-class {
  display: none;
}
@include media-breakpoint-up(sm) {
  .custom-class {
    display: block;
  }
}

We occasionally use media queries that go in the other direction (the given screen size or smaller):

// Extra small devices (portrait phones, less than 576px)
@media (max-width: 575.98px) { ... }

// Small devices (landscape phones, less than 768px)
@media (max-width: 767.98px) { ... }

// Medium devices (tablets, less than 992px)
@media (max-width: 991.98px) { ... }

// Large devices (desktops, less than 1200px)
@media (max-width: 1199.98px) { ... }

// Extra large devices (large desktops)
// No media query since the extra-large breakpoint has no upper bound on its width

Note that since browsers do not currently support range context queries, we work around the limitations of min- and max- prefixes and viewports with fractional widths (which can occur under certain conditions on high-dpi devices, for instance) by using values with higher precision for these comparisons.

Once again, these media queries are also available via Sass mixins:

@include media-breakpoint-down(xs) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-down(sm) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-down(md) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-down(lg) { ... }
// No media query necessary for xl breakpoint as it has no upper bound on its width

// Example: Style from medium breakpoint and down
@include media-breakpoint-down(md) {
  .custom-class {
    display: block;
  }
}

There are also media queries and mixins for targeting a single segment of screen sizes using the minimum and maximum breakpoint widths.

// Extra small devices (portrait phones, less than 576px)
@media (max-width: 575.98px) { ... }

// Small devices (landscape phones, 576px and up)
@media (min-width: 576px) and (max-width: 767.98px) { ... }

// Medium devices (tablets, 768px and up)
@media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 991.98px) { ... }

// Large devices (desktops, 992px and up)
@media (min-width: 992px) and (max-width: 1199.98px) { ... }

// Extra large devices (large desktops, 1200px and up)
@media (min-width: 1200px) { ... }

These media queries are also available via Sass mixins:

@include media-breakpoint-only(xs) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-only(sm) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-only(md) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-only(lg) { ... }
@include media-breakpoint-only(xl) { ... }

Similarly, media queries may span multiple breakpoint widths:

// Example
// Apply styles starting from medium devices and up to extra large devices
@media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1199.98px) { ... }

The Sass mixin for targeting the same screen size range would be:

@include media-breakpoint-between(md, xl) { ... }

Z-index

For material approach to z-index, refer to page Elevation and shadows.

Containers
Responsive breakpoints
Z-index