Points to millimetres – and millimetres to points
1 pt = 0.35277778 mm
All units in this category
- 12pt
- 16px
- 4.2333333mm
- 0.16666667in
- 1pc
Formula
Multiply the value in points by 0.35277778 to get millimetres.mm = pt × 0.35277778
Multiply the value in millimetres by 2.8346457 to get points.pt = mm × 2.8346457
How to convert points to millimetres
Type a value in the field above and the result is calculated instantly. Use the arrow button to swap direction, or pick other units from the lists.
Doing it in your head
A rough conversion for when the calculator is not to hand. The error comes last, and it holds in both directions at that order of magnitude.
- Points to millimetres: ÷ 3 + 5%. That gives 0.35 instead of 0.352778, an error of 0.79%.
- Millimetres to points: × 3 − 5%. That gives 2.85 instead of 2.83465, an error of 0.54%.
Points to millimetres – common values
| Points (pt) | Millimetres (mm) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.352778 |
| 6 | 2.11667 |
| 8 | 2.82222 |
| 10 | 3.52778 |
| 12 | 4.23333 |
| 14 | 4.93889 |
| 16 | 5.64444 |
| 24 | 8.46667 |
| 36 | 12.7 |
| 72 | 25.4 |
Millimetres to points – common values
| Millimetres (mm) | Points (pt) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2.83465 |
| 6 | 17.0079 |
| 8 | 22.6772 |
| 10 | 28.3465 |
| 12 | 34.0157 |
| 14 | 39.685 |
| 16 | 45.3543 |
| 24 | 68.0315 |
| 36 | 102.047 |
| 72 | 204.094 |
About the units
Points. A point is today exactly one seventy-second of an inch, 0.35278 millimetres. The value is fixed in the W3C CSS specification and matches the PostScript point. Type sizes are given in points in word processing, layout and on the web, and the EU energy label prescribes exact point sizes for its text. The older printer’s point was one 72.27th of an inch, and it survives in TeX-set literature – 0.374% smaller for the same figure. A point is also 4/3 of a pixel.
Millimetres. In typography the millimetre is converted into points: 72 divided by 25.4, that is 2.834645669 points per millimetre. The chain runs through the inch, since both the point and the pixel are defined from it. Every print job needs the conversion, with paper sizes, margins and bleed in millimetres while the text is set in points – the EU fuel label is 297 × 210 millimetres, while energy label text is specified in points. The trap is assuming a point is roughly a millimetre.