Convert Dots per pica to Dots per centimetre

Convert Dots per pica (dot/pica) to Dots per centimetre (dpcm) instantly and accurately.

Conversion Formula

dpcm = dot/pica × 2.362204724

About Dots per pica

The dot per pica (dot/pica) is a typographic resolution unit linking printer DPI to the pica - exactly 1/6 inch in the PostScript standard (Adobe, 1985). A 72 DPI Macintosh screen placed exactly 12 dots per pica (1 dot per point); a 300 DPI LaserWriter placed 300/6 = 50 dot/pica, providing 50-level halftone cells per pica. High-end digital imagesetter platemakers: Agfa Selectset Avantra 45 at 3600 DPI = 600 dot/pica; modern 2400 DPI proofers produce 400 dot/pica. Desktop publishing software - Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress, Affinity Publisher - defaults to pica+point rulers (e.g., 4p6 = 4 picas 6 points = 0.75 inch), making dot/pica a natural precision unit for typographic rasterisation quality assessment. 1 dot/pica = 6 DPI = 6 PPI (since 1 pica = 1/6 in). 1 dot/pica = 6 PPI = 15.24 dot/m.

About Dots per centimetre

The dot per centimetre (dpcm) is the metric equivalent of DPI, defined as a CSS resolution unit in the W3C CSS Images Level 3 specification alongside dpi and dppx. A 96 DPI reference screen (CSS Media Queries Level 4 reference device) corresponds to 96/2.54 ≈ 37.795 dpcm. ITU-T T.4 (Group 3 facsimile, 1980) defines scan line density in metric units: standard resolution 3.85 lines/mm = 38.5 dpcm; fine resolution 7.7 lines/mm = 77 dpcm. ITU-T T.85 (JBIG compression) standardised these metric resolutions for cross-border interoperability. ISO 216 A4 scanned at 77 dpcm fine fax resolution yields 1617 pixels across page width. The CSS specification recommends dppx over dpcm for screen media queries, reserving dpcm for print stylesheets targeting metric-resolution printers. 1 dpcm = 2.54 DPI = 2.54 PPI exactly (since 1 in = 2.54 cm). 1 dpcm = 0.1 dot/mm.

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