🦉 UnitOwl

Typography Converter

By KAMP Inc. / UnitOwl · Last reviewed:

Typography units govern the size of text, spacing between lines and letters, and the dimensions of printed or digital elements. Points, picas, pixels, ems, and millimeters all measure similar things in different contexts — and the relationship between them shifts depending on whether you're working in print, screen design, or CSS. Understanding these conversions is essential for designers, developers, and anyone working at the intersection of print and digital media.

Result
0.75 pt
1 px = 0.75 pt

Popular Typography Conversions

Pixels to Points Points to Pixels Pixels to Em Pixels to Rem Em to Pixels Rem to Pixels Pixels to Picas Points to Em Inches to Pixels Pixels to Millimeters

Points, Picas, and the Print Tradition

The typographic point is the foundational unit of print typography, with origins in 18th-century France. The modern DTP (desktop publishing) point, standardized by Adobe in the 1980s and now universal in software like InDesign and Word, equals exactly 1/72 of an inch. Twelve points make one pica; six picas make one inch. Body text in books is typically set between 10 and 12 points; headings range from 14 to 36 points or larger. Line spacing (leading) is commonly set at 120–145% of point size. One pica equals 4.233 mm. In the US, paper sizes and publication dimensions are often specified in picas and points rather than inches or millimeters.

Unit Equivalent
1 point (pt) 1/72 inch = 0.353 mm
1 pica 12 pt = 1/6 inch = 4.233 mm
6 picas 1 inch = 25.4 mm
1 em (at 16px) 16 px = 12 pt
1 rem (CSS default) 16 px = 0.222 inch
72 pt 1 inch = 96 px (screen)

Pixels, Points, and Screen Resolution

On screens, the relationship between points and pixels depends on the display's pixel density. At the traditional 72 ppi (pixels per inch) of early Macintosh screens and the 96 ppi Windows standard, 1 CSS point ≈ 1 screen pixel. Modern high-DPI (Retina) screens pack 2× or 3× as many physical pixels into the same space. CSS defines a reference pixel as 1/96 inch regardless of physical screen density; the browser maps this to actual device pixels via the device pixel ratio. A 16px font on a 2× Retina display uses 32 physical pixels but still appears the same physical size as 16px on a 1× display. For print CSS, 1 point = 4/3 CSS pixels (96/72).

Em, Rem, and Relative Typography in Web Design

In CSS, em and rem are relative units that scale with font size. 1 em equals the current element's font size; if body text is set to 16px, then 1 em = 16px. rem (root em) is relative to the root HTML element's font size, making it more predictable in complex component hierarchies. Most accessibility guidelines recommend setting base font sizes in rem rather than px, because rem respects the user's browser font-size preference, while px overrides it. A 1.5 line-height means line spacing is 1.5 times the element's font size. For body text at 16px, that is 24px of line height — the CSS equivalent of 18pt leading on a 12pt font in print.

Sources & References