Typography Unit Converter
Convert between pixels, points, ems, rems, picas, centimetres, and inches for web and print.
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How to use this calculator
- 1
Enter the typography value you want to convert.
- 2
Select the unit you are converting from (e.g. pixels).
- 3
Select the target unit (e.g. points).
- 4
The result appears instantly.
Frequently asked questions
Which typographic units does the converter handle?
Points, pixels, em, rem, picas, centimetres, millimetres and inches. The base unit is the point, with 72 points to an inch.
How many pixels are in a point?
In CSS, one pixel is 1/96 inch and one point is 1/72 inch, so 1 pt = 1.3333 px and 1 px = 0.75 pt. A 12 pt font is therefore 16 px, and 11 pt is 14.66666667 px. This is a CSS convention, and physical screens vary.
What is a pica?
A pica is 12 points, or 1/6 inch, so there are 6 picas to the inch. A US letter page that is 8.5 in wide is 51 picas. At 96 dpi one pica is 16 px.
How does the tool treat em and rem?
It assumes 1 em = 1 rem = 16 px = 12 pt, the usual browser default. In real CSS an em depends on the font size of the element, and a rem depends on the root element, so the answer is right only where that size is 16 px.
Why is a typographic point sometimes 72.27 to an inch?
Traditional printing and TeX use a point of 1/72.27 inch, while desktop publishing and CSS use 1/72 inch. This converter uses 72 per inch, so results for TeX documents differ slightly.
How exact are the centimetre and millimetre conversions?
They follow the exact inch: 1 cm is 72 ÷ 2.54 = 28.34645669 points and 1 mm is 72 ÷ 25.4 = 2.834645669 points. So 10 pt is 3.527777778 mm and 12 pt is 0.42333333 cm, shown to about ten significant digits.
Does it set line height or choose a font size?
No. It converts one length unit to another. Deciding on the right size, line spacing or scale for a design remains yours. Remember that a font’s nominal size is not the height of its letters.
Typography unit conversion: points, pixels, picas, rem and millimetres
Print units and screen units on one scale
Typography grew from print, where sizes are in points and picas, and moved onto screens, where CSS speaks pixels, em and rem. The bridge is the inch: 72 points, 6 picas and 96 CSS pixels all make one inch, which is exactly 25.4 mm. From that, 1 px = 0.75 pt and 1 pt = 0.3527777778 mm.
| Pixels | Points | Picas | Millimetres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 px | 7.5 | 0.625 | 2.645833333 |
| 12 px | 9 | 0.75 | 3.175 |
| 16 px | 12 | 1 | 4.233333333 |
| 24 px | 18 | 1.5 | 6.35 |
| 32 px | 24 | 2 | 8.466666667 |
Worked example: web font sizes
Body copy at 14 px is 10.5 pt, and 24 px headings are 18 pt. In the other direction a document set in 11 pt is 14.66666667 px on screen. With the 16 px assumption, 1.5 rem is 24 px, which is 18 pt.
Worked example: paper measurements
A 10 pt line is 3.527777778 mm tall, and 12 pt is 0.42333333 cm. A letter page 8.5 in wide measures 51 picas, and a full 11 in height is 66 picas. A margin of 0.5 in comes to 48 px, while 72 px is exactly 19.05 mm.
Where the conversion stops
Pixel figures are CSS pixels, not device pixels. Phones and high-density displays pack several device pixels into one CSS pixel, so physical size on screen varies. An em or rem here is fixed at 16 px, so for responsive layouts check the actual root size. Treat the output as a design reference rather than a measure of real glyph height.
Setting up a design scale
A tidy way to plan a type scale is to choose one unit and convert everything to it. Designers working for print favour points and picas, while front-end developers favour rem. With the converter you can check that a 12 pt print style lands on 16 px and that a 10 mm rule is 28.34645669 pt. Remember that it reports the fixed 16 px relationship, so if a user raises the browser’s default size, rem values in a real page grow while this table does not. Treat the result as a reference point, then test in the browser.
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