Typography Unit Converter
Same value in every unit
| Unit | Value |
|---|
The one number to remember: 12pt = 16px
CSS defines an inch as exactly 96 pixels and a point as one seventy-second of an inch. That makes a point 0.75 pixels, so 12pt is 16px — which is also the default body size in every browser. From there, 9pt is 12px, 18pt is 24px, and so on.
Screen or paper
Points are for print. A 10pt type size is a physical measurement on paper and will be the same size whatever printer produces it. Pixels and rem are for screens, where the CSS pixel is a reference unit that the device maps to its own physical pixels. Setting a web page in points is not wrong, but it invites the browser to do a conversion you could have done yourself.
Why em and rem are not in the table
Because they have no fixed size. 1em means "the font size of the parent" and
1rem means "the root font size", so their value depends on the page rather than on any
constant. With the usual 16px root, 1rem is 16px and 1.5rem is 24px — but change the root and every
rem on the page changes with it, which is precisely why designers use them.
Picas and the rest
- 1 pica = 12 points — column widths in print layout.
- 1 twip = 1/20 point — Microsoft Word's internal unit.
- 1 Didot point ≈ 1.066 points — traditional European typography.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Sixteen, in a browser. CSS defines an inch as exactly 96 pixels and a point as 1/72 inch, so one point is 0.75 px and 12pt is 16px. That is a fixed relationship in CSS regardless of what your actual screen density is.
In CSS, yes, by definition. In print, no — there a point is a physical 1/72 of an inch and a pixel depends entirely on the output resolution. Use pt for print and px or rem for screens.
They are relative, not absolute, so they cannot appear in a fixed table. 1em is the font size of the element's parent and 1rem is the root font size, usually 16px unless changed. If your root is 16px then 1rem is 16px and 1.5rem is 24px.
One twentieth of a point, used internally by Microsoft Word and RTF. Seeing it usually means you are reading a document format rather than designing anything.
No. The Didot point of European typography is about 1.066 of a standard point, and twelve of them make a cicero rather than a pica. Old European type specifications use it.
No, it is arithmetic in your browser.