CSS Backdrop-Filter Blur: Add a Stunning Blur to Any Background Overlay (Too Easy!)
The backdrop-filter: blur() property in CSS allows you to apply a beautiful frosted glass effect to any overlay element, blurring whatever is behind it. This is perfect for modals, cards, navigation bars, or any UI element that sits on top of a busy background. It's modern, lightweight, and supported in all major browsers today.
Why Use backdrop-filter?
Unlike traditional methods that require extra images or pseudo-elements, backdrop-filter directly blurs the content behind your element. Combine it with a semi-transparent background for that popular glassmorphism look.
Basic Example: Blurred Overlay on a Background Image
Here's a super simple implementation. We have a full-screen background image, and an overlay div with the blur effect.
HTML
<div class='with-a-background'>
<div class='blur'>blur overlay</div>
</div>
CSS
.blur {
backdrop-filter: blur(14.399999618530273px);
background: #00000066;
padding: 40px;
margin-top: 100px;
}
.with-a-background {
background: url("https://i.imgur.com/DZ4R4fa.jpeg") center no-repeat;
background-size: cover;
height: 100vh;
width: 100%;
}
This creates a dark semi-transparent overlay with a strong blur, making text easy to read over a complex background.
Tips for Better Results
- Use a semi-transparent background (like
#00000066for dark or#ffffff66for light) to enhance the frosted glass feel. - Adjust the blur radius to fit your design – smaller for subtle effects, larger for dramatic ones.
- For better performance on low-end devices, avoid very large blur radii.
- Add
-webkit-backdrop-filterif targeting older Safari versions (though modern support is excellent).
Browser Support
As of 2025, backdrop-filter is supported in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and most mobile browsers. Check CanIUse for the latest details.
HTML
<div class='with-a-background'>
<div class='blur '>blur overlay</div>
</div>CSS
.blur {
backdrop-filter: blur(14.399999618530273px);
background: #00000066;
padding:40px;
margin-top:100px;
}
.with-a-background {
background:url("https://i.imgur.com/DZ4R4fa.jpeg") center no-repeat;
background-size:cover;
height:100vh;
width:100%;
}Scripts
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<meta name="keywords" content="CSS backdrop-filter, blur background overlay, frosted glass effect, CSS blur, glassmorphism, CSS tutorial">
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"Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything. 'Are you feeling all right?' I asked her. 'I feel all sleepy,' she said. In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead. The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was...in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her. On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles. ...I dedicated two of my books to Olivia, the first was ‘James and the Giant Peach’. That was when she was still alive. The second was ‘The BFG’, dedicated to her memory after she had died from measles. You will see her name at the beginning of each of these books. And I know how happy she would be if only she could know that her death had helped to save a good deal of illness and death among other children."
I just checked google books for BFG, and the dedication is there.
https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/_/quybcXrFhCIC?hl=en&gbpv=1
Roald Dahl, 1986
