Why does image use display: inline but behaves like an inline-block element

Question

Why is the default display style for image inline instead of inline-block?

Is there any difference between inline and inline-block for img elements, from what I can see it behaves exactly in the same way.

Answer 1

IMG is an Inline & Replaced element.

A replaced element is any element whose appearance and dimensions are defined by an external resource.

As per W3C

The IMG element has no content; it is usually replaced inline by the image designated by the src attribute, the exception being for left or right-aligned images that are "floated" out of line.

Check this link for more http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/replacedelements

Answer 2

The default browser stylesheets were initially created using CSS1 for HTML3.2, so inline-block was not available or necessary. There's no difference between them for image elements.

References

• CSS 1 Specification
• HTML 3.2 Specification