Point (pt)
1/72 of an inch (0.3528 mm). The desktop-publishing point used by PostScript and CSS.
1 point = 0.0003527777778 meters (approximately).
About the point
Printers have used a point since at least 1517, when Francesco Torniello da Novara in Milan set it at one ninth of a letter's height. Later systems differed: Fournier in 1737 used about 0.345 mm, Didot in 1783 about 0.376 mm, and the American point approved by type founders in 1886 about 0.3515 mm. TeX uses 1/72.27 inch, or 0.35146 mm, and a metric point of 0.250 mm was set by standards bodies in 1999.
The figure used here is the desktop publishing point of exactly 1/72 inch, 0.3528 mm. Xerox Interpress used it, and Adobe PostScript carried it on. W3C adopted it in 1996 for CSS, where 12 pt equals 16 px because a pixel is assumed to be 1/96 inch. NIST lists the computer point as an exact conversion. This point is about 0.4 percent longer than the TeX point. Font sizes refer to the em square rather than the printed letters.
Sources: Wikipedia: Point (typography); NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8
Point conversion chart
1 point expressed in every other length unit:
| Unit | 1 point |
|---|---|
| Meters | 0.0003527777778 |
| Kilometers | 3.527777778×10⁻⁷ |
| Centimeters | 0.03527777778 |
| Millimeters | 0.3527777778 |
| Inches | 0.01388888889 |
| Feet | 0.001157407407 |
| Yards | 0.0003858024691 |
| Miles | 2.192059484×10⁻⁷ |
| Micrometers | 352.7777778 |
| Nanometers | 352,777.7778 |
| Nautical Miles | 1.904847612×10⁻⁷ |
| Pixels (CSS) | 1.333333333 |
| Light-years | 3.728864053×10⁻²⁰ |
| Picometers | 352,777,777.8 |
| Femtometers | 352,777,777,778 |
| Decimeters | 0.003527777778 |
| Hectometers | 0.000003527777778 |
| Decameters | 0.00003527777778 |
| Thou | 13.88888889 |
| Picas | 0.08333333333 |
| Twips | 20 |
| Astronomical Units | 2.35817379×10⁻¹⁵ |
| Light-seconds | 1.176740003×10⁻¹² |
| Light-minutes | 1.961233338×10⁻¹⁴ |
| Light-hours | 3.268722229×10⁻¹⁶ |
| Parsecs | 1.143274916×10⁻²⁰ |
| Megaparsecs | 1.143274916×10⁻²⁶ |
| Angstroms | 3,527,777.778 |
| Fathoms | 0.0001929012346 |
| Cable Lengths | 0.000001904847612 |
| Leagues | 7.306864946×10⁻⁸ |
| Nautical Leagues | 6.349492041×10⁻⁸ |
| Furlongs | 0.000001753647587 |
| Chains | 0.00001753647587 |
| Rods | 0.00007014590348 |
| Links | 0.001753647587 |
| Hands | 0.003472222222 |
| Barleycorns | 0.04166666667 |
| Palms | 0.00462962963 |
| Spans | 0.001543209877 |
| Cubits | 0.0007716049383 |
| Ells | 0.0003086419753 |
| US Survey Feet | 0.001157405093 |
| US Survey Miles | 2.1920551×10⁻⁷ |
| Stadia | 0.000001837384259 |
| Roman Inches | 0.01434056007 |
| Roman Feet | 0.001191816817 |
| Roman Cubits | 0.0007945445445 |
| Roman Paces | 0.0002383633634 |
| Roman Stadia | 0.000001906906907 |
| Roman Miles | 2.383633634×10⁻⁷ |
| Roman Leagues | 1.589089089×10⁻⁷ |
| Greek Feet | 0.001102430556 |
| Royal Cubits | 0.000671957672 |
| Egyptian Palms | 0.004703703704 |
| Egyptian Fingers | 0.01881481481 |
| Khet | 0.00000671957672 |
| Biblical Cubits | 0.0006532921811 |
| Sabbath Days' Journeys | 3.266460905×10⁻⁷ |
| Sun | 0.01164166667 |
| Shaku | 0.001164166667 |
| Ken | 0.0001940277778 |
| Jō | 0.0001164166667 |
| Chō | 0.000003233796296 |
| Ri (Japanese) | 8.98276749×10⁻⁸ |
| Fen (Chinese) | 0.1058333333 |
| Cun (Chinese) | 0.01058333333 |
| Chi (Chinese) | 0.001058333333 |
| Zhang (Chinese) | 0.0001058333333 |
| Li (Chinese) | 7.055555556×10⁻⁷ |
| Vershoks | 0.007936507937 |
| Arshins | 0.000496031746 |
| Sazhens | 0.0001653439153 |
| Versts | 3.306878307×10⁻⁷ |
| Lignes | 0.1563849778 |
| Pouces | 0.01303208148 |
| Pieds Du Roi | 0.00108600679 |
| Toises | 0.0001810011317 |
| Lieues | 9.050056584×10⁻⁸ |
| Varas | 0.0004220334702 |
| Leguas | 6.330502054×10⁻⁸ |
| Wa (Thai) | 0.0001763888889 |
| Sen (Thai) | 0.000008819444444 |
| Scandinavian Mil | 3.527777778×10⁻⁸ |
More Typography & screen units
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