HTML: List of Self-Closing Tags

By Xah Lee. Date: 2012-03-23. Last updated: 2025-03-23.

Here is a complete list of self-closing tags for HTML5. These are called void-elements in HTML spec.

<area />
<base />
<br />
<col />
<embed />
<hr />
<img />
<input />
<link />
<meta />
<param />
<source />
<track />
<wbr />

<command /> (obsolete)
<keygen /> (obsolete)
<menuitem /> (obsolete)
<frame /> (obsolete)

The space before the slash is optional.

Is the Ending Slash Optional?

HTML5: the slash is optional.
HTML4: the slash is technically invalid. However, it's accepted by W3C's HTML validator.
XHTML: The slash is REQUIRED.

I recommend to always add the slash. Because, it provides a visual clue of non-closing tags.

XHTML Supports Self-Closing Syntax for All Tags

In XML/XHTML, any tag can be self-closed by the ending slash <… />.

When you test XML, you have to make sure the server is sending the correct Internet media type as XHTML (e.g. application/xhtml+xml), otherwise browsers will treat it as HTML, regardless of the DOCTYPE in your file.

Reference

w3 org void elements 2022-03-15 4Q93 — w3 org void elements 2022-03-15 https://www.w3.org/TR/html/syntax.html#void-elements