Convert Pixels per millimetre to Lines per inch

Convert Pixels per millimetre (px/mm) to Lines per inch (lpi) instantly and accurately.

Conversion Formula

lpi = px/mm × 25.4

About Pixels per millimetre

The pixel per millimetre (px/mm) is the resolution unit of precision in machine vision, flatbed scanning, and microscopy, where working distances are in millimetres. Industrial camera datasheets (Basler acA5472-17um, FLIR BFS-U3-200S6M-C) specify resolution in px/mm at defined field widths; a 20 MP sensor over a 100 mm field resolves 54.96 px/mm. ISO 12654 (archival scanning) specifies minimum 8 px/mm (≈ 200 PPI) for standard digitisation and 24 px/mm (≈ 600 PPI) for fine-detail originals. Digital pathology: Leica Aperio GT450 at 40× magnification achieves ≈ 4,405 px/mm. CMOS sensor pixel pitch has shrunk from 7.4 µm/px (≈ 135 px/mm, mid-2000s) to 0.64 µm/px (≈ 15,625 px/mm) for smartphone sensors in 2024. Since 1 in = 25.4 mm exactly, 1 px/mm = 25.4 PPI exactly. A 300 PPI photo print = 300/25.4 ≈ 11.81 px/mm.

About Lines per inch

The line per inch (lpi) is the standard unit of halftone screen frequency in offset, flexographic, gravure, and screen printing. Each halftone cell varies in dot size to simulate grey tones; a 150 lpi screen on a 1200 DPI printer allocates 1200/150 = 8 printer dots per cell row, giving an 8×8 = 64-level grey matrix. Industry benchmarks: newsprint 85-100 lpi; magazines 133-175 lpi; fine-art offset 175-200 lpi; screen printing (textiles) 35-65 lpi. Rule of thumb: required DPI ≥ 1.5 × lpi for acceptable AM halftone; ≥ 2 × lpi for high quality - so 150 lpi offset needs at least 300 DPI raster data. As a dimensional quantity, 1 lpi = 1 PPI = 1 DPI; lpi designates screen frequency in print. 1 lpi = 1 PPI = 2.54 lpcm.

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