Do we still need end slashes in HTML5?

Question

In HTML5, do we still need the end slash like in XHTML?

<img src="some_image.png" />

validator.w3.org didn't complain if I dropped it, not even a warning. But some online documents seem to indicate the end slash is still required for tags such as img, link, meta, br, etc.

Answer 1

Nope. HTML has never required it, even before HTML5. If you plan to use XHTML with HTML features, then yes, it is necessary.

Answer 2

According to Start Tags they are optional.

Answer 3

FROM W3C:

Void elements: area, base, br, col, embed, hr, img, input, keygen, link, meta, param, source, track, wbr

"Void elements only have a start tag; end tags must not be specified for void elements."

http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/syntax.html#void-elements

Answer 4

img tags are Void Elements so they do not need an end tag.

Void elements area, base, br, col, command, embed, hr, img, input, keygen, link, meta, param, source, track, wbr

...

Void elements only have a start tag; end tags must not be specified for void elements.

W3C | WHATWG

That being said it's not strict parsing in HTML5 so it won't do any major harm.

Answer 5

In HTML 5, the closing slash is optional on void elements such img (I am adding this because the currently accepted answer only says: "end tags must not be specified for void elements", and does not address closing slashes in void elements).

Citing from http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/syntax.html#start-tags (number 6):

Then, if the element is one of the void elements, or if the element is a foreign element, then there may be a single "/" (U+002F) character. This character has no effect on void elements, but on foreign elements it marks the start tag as self-closing.