Internet Explorer versions before IE9 do not support media queries.

If you are looking for a way of degrading the design for IE8 users, you may find IE s conditional commenting helpful. Using this, you can specify an IE 8/7/6 specific style sheet which over writes the previous rules.

For example:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="style.css"/>
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="style-ie.css"/>
<![endif]-->

This won t allow for a responsive design in IE8, but could be a simpler and more accessible solution than using a JS plugin.

css3-mediaqueries-js is probably what you are looking for: this script emulates media queries. However (from the script s site) it "doesn t work on @imported stylesheets (which you shouldn t use anyway for performance reasons). Also won t listen to the media attribute of the <link> and <style> elements".

In the same vein you have the simpler Respond.js, which enables only min-width and max-width media queries.

The best solution I ve found is Respond.js especially if your main concern is making sure your responsive design works in IE8. It s pretty lightweight at 1kb when min/gzipped and you can make sure only IE8 clients load it:

<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script src="respond.min.js"></script>
<![endif]-->

It s also the recommended method if you re using bootstrap: http://getbootstrap.com/getting-started/#support-ie8-ie9

IE8 (and lower versions) and Firefox prior to 3.5 do not support media query. Safari 3.2 partially supports it.

There are some workarounds that use JavaScript to add media query support to these browsers. Try these:

Media Queries jQuery plugin (only deals with max/min width)

css3-mediaqueries-js – a library that aims to add media query support to non-supporting browsers

Taken from the css3mediaqueries.js project page.

Note: Doesn t work on @import ed stylesheets (which you shouldn t use anyway for performance reasons). Also won t listen to the media attribute of the <link> and <style> elements.

An easy way to use the css3-mediaqueries-js is to include the following before the closing body tag:

<!-- css3-mediaqueries.js for IE less than 9 -->
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script 
   src="//css3-mediaqueries-js.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/css3-mediaqueries.js">
</script>
<![endif]-->

Edited answer: IE understands just screen and print as import media. All other CSS supplied along with the import statement causes IE8 to ignore the import statement. Geco browser like safari or mozilla didn t have this problem.

Media queries are not supported at all in IE8 and below.

A Javascript based workaround

To add support for IE8, you could use one of several JS solutions. For example, Respond can be added to add media query support for IE8 only with the following code :

<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script 
   src="respond.min.js">
</script>
<![endif]-->

CSS Mediaqueries is another library that does the same thing. The code for adding that library to your HTML would be identical :

<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script 
   src="css3-mediaqueries.js">
</script>
<![endif]-->

The alternative

If you don t like a JS based solution, you should also consider adding an IE<9 only stylesheet where you adjust your styling specific to IE<9. For that, you should add the following HTML to your code:

<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="style-ielt9.css"/>
<![endif]-->

Note :

Technically it s one more alternative: using CSS hacks to target IE<9. It has the same impact as an IE<9 only stylesheet, but you don t need a seperate stylesheet for that. I do not recommend this option, though, as they produce invalid CSS code (which is but one of several reasons why the use of CSS hacks is generally frowned upon today).

Prior to Internet Explorer 8 there were no support for Media queries. But depending on your case you can try to use conditional comments to target only Internet Explorer 8 and lower. You just have to use a proper CSS files architecture.

http://blog.keithclark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ie-media-block-tests.php

I used @media screen {} and it works fine for me in REAL IE8.

IE didn t add media query support until IE9. So with IE8 you re out of luck.