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Twip

A twip is a unit of measurement used in typography and desktop publishing, defined as one-twentieth of a printer's point or 1/1440 of an inch (approximately 17.64 micrometers).^[1]^[2] The term "twip" is an abbreviation for "twentieth of a point," referring to the traditional typographical point as a base unit.^[3] Twips provide a device-independent scale for precise positioning and sizing of text, graphics, and layouts in computing environments, particularly within Microsoft Windows applications and file formats.^[1] This unit ensures consistent rendering across varying screen resolutions and print outputs by allowing sub-pixel accuracy, with 1440 twips equaling one inch regardless of display density.^[2] In practice, twips are integral to systems like the Windows Metafile (WMF) format, where the MM_TWIPS mapping mode defines logical units as twips for drawing operations, and to document standards such as Rich Text Format (RTF) and binary Microsoft Word files for controlling margins, fonts, and spacing.^[2]^[1] The adoption of twips originated in the context of early graphical user interfaces and printer technologies, where fine-grained measurements were needed to bridge the gap between screen pixels and high-resolution print media.^[1] Today, while modern web standards favor units like pixels or CSS points, twips remain relevant in legacy Microsoft Office tools, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and certain API calls for coordinate systems in controls and forms.^[4] For example, properties like ScaleMode in VBA can be set to twips to specify units for drawing methods such as Line or Circle, facilitating portable code across different hardware.^[4]

Definition

Etymology

The term "twip" is an abbreviation for "twentieth of a point," denoting a unit equivalent to one-twentieth of a typographical point.^[5]^[6] Microsoft coined the term as a fabricated word to describe this subdivision.^[6] The twip relates directly to the point as its foundational measure in typography.^[5]

Precise Measurement

A twip is defined as exactly 1/20 of a typographical point, with one point equivalent to 1/72 inch in digital typography.^[7]^[8] This results in the precise measurement of 1 twip = \frac{1}{20 \times 72} = \frac{1}{1440} inch.^[9] To derive the metric equivalent, note that 1 inch is defined as exactly 25.4 mm. Thus, 1 twip = \frac{25.4}{1440} mm ≈ 0.0176388889 mm, or equivalently 17.64 μm.^[9] This fractional relationship to the inch-based point ensures device independence in digital contexts, as it ties the unit to a fixed physical scale that remains consistent regardless of varying screen resolutions or output devices, allowing uniform proportions in layout and rendering.^[7]

Relation to Other Units

Typographic Units

In typography, the point (pt) serves as a fundamental absolute unit of measurement, defined as 1/72 of an inch in the Anglo-American system, with 12 points equaling one pica, a larger unit traditionally used for layout grids and column widths.^[8] The twip, derived from "twentieth of a point," functions as a subdivision of this system, where 20 twips constitute one point, providing a finer granularity for precise positioning in typesetting and design.^[10] This structure allows twips to handle sub-point adjustments that points alone might not accommodate with sufficient accuracy. Unlike relative units such as the em, which equals the current font's point size and scales with the typeface height, or the en, defined as half an em for spacing elements like dashes, the twip maintains an absolute measure independent of font variations.^[11]^[12] This absolute quality makes twips particularly suited for consistent cross-device or cross-font applications where relative units like em and en could introduce variability based on the chosen typeface.^[13] Twips align with the historical Anglo-American point system, which differs from European scales like the Didot system—where 12 Didot points form one cicero, approximately 0.178 inches—and the slightly larger French ligne-based measurements.^[14] For context, one twip equals 1/1440 of an inch, reinforcing its basis in the imperial-derived Anglo-American framework rather than metric-influenced alternatives like the Didot point.^[10]

Imperial and Metric Equivalents

The twip is fundamentally tied to the imperial system, where it is defined as exactly 1/1440 of an inch. This makes 1440 twips equivalent to one inch. In relation to other imperial units, 20 twips equal one typographical point, which itself measures 1/72 of an inch. For larger scales relevant in digital design contexts such as document layouts spanning multiple feet, one foot comprises 12 inches or 17,280 twips, while one yard equals 36 inches or 51,840 twips.^[15]^[16]^[16] Conversions to the metric system derive from the exact equivalence of one inch to 25.4 millimeters, established internationally in 1959. Thus, one twip measures 25.4 / 1440 millimeters, or approximately 0.01764 millimeters. This equates to about 17.64 micrometers (μm). For broader scale, one meter contains approximately 56,693 twips, calculated as 1,000 millimeters divided by 0.01764 mm per twip.^[17]^[18] A practical example illustrates these conversions in document processing: a standard A4 sheet, with a width of exactly 210 millimeters per ISO 216, corresponds to 210 / 0.01764 ≈ 11,905 twips. This value is obtained by first converting 210 mm to inches (8.2677 inches) and then multiplying by 1,440 twips per inch.^[19]^[16] In computational implementations, approximations like 0.01764 mm per twip can introduce precision loss when using floating-point arithmetic, potentially leading to cumulative errors in rendering or layout calculations. To mitigate this, many applications, including Microsoft products, store and process measurements as integer values in twips, leveraging the unit's design for exact fractional representation of inches without decimal approximations.^[20]^[21]

Applications in Computing

Typography and Document Processing

In Microsoft Word, all measurements such as margins, line spacing, and font sizing are internally stored and processed in twips to ensure precision across different display and printing environments.^[21] For instance, user inputs in inches or centimeters are converted to twips upon entry, with values like a 0.25-inch margin equating to 360 twips for consistent layout calculations.^[21] Twip's device-independent nature, defined as 1/1440 of an inch, facilitates accurate scaling in typography without reliance on specific hardware resolutions.^[22] In the Rich Text Format (RTF), twips serve as the fundamental unit for platform-independent text exchange, enabling uniform formatting across applications. RTF control words, such as \margl for the left margin, specify positions and dimensions directly in twips; for example, \margl720 sets a left margin of 0.5 inches.^[23] This approach ensures that elements like indents and spacing remain consistent when documents are transferred between systems supporting RTF.^[24] In desktop publishing applications, particularly those in the Microsoft ecosystem like Word and Publisher, twips support consistent rendering of typographic features such as kerning, leading, and indents across printers and screens. By using twips for these adjustments, software maintains proportional spacing regardless of output device, preventing distortions in text alignment.^[25] A practical example is font height calculation: a 12-point font equates to 240 twips, which is used to determine baseline alignment and interline spacing in document layouts.^[26] This conversion, derived from 1 point equaling 20 twips, allows precise vertical positioning in RTF and Word files.^[22]

User Interface Design

In Visual Basic applications, particularly in Visual Basic 6.0 and Microsoft Access forms, twips serve as the default unit for specifying the size and position of graphical user interface elements such as form controls, buttons, and dialog boxes. This approach ensures layout consistency across varying display resolutions by tying measurements to physical dimensions rather than device-specific pixels. For instance, the Width property of a CommandButton control is set in twips, where 1440 twips equate to one inch, allowing developers to define button dimensions that scale appropriately when rendered.^[27]^[28] Twips promote device independence in Windows-based UI design by converting to pixels based on the system's dots per inch (DPI) setting, enabling dynamic scaling for different monitors. At a standard 96 DPI, 1440 twips correspond to 96 pixels, representing one inch on screen; on higher-DPI displays, the same twip value maps to more pixels to maintain proportional sizing. In the Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI), the MM_TWIPS mapping mode further supports this by defining each logical unit as one twip (1/1440 inch), facilitating resolution-agnostic positioning of UI components like window coordinates.^[29]^[28] In legacy software developed with Visual Basic or the Windows API, twips enable partial high-DPI awareness by allowing specifications for control widths and dialog layouts that adjust automatically during runtime conversion to pixels. For example, form properties like SubdatasheetHeight or InputBox positioning use twips to define vertical and horizontal extents, helping older applications avoid bitmap stretching on modern high-resolution screens when DPI scaling is enabled.^[30] Despite these advantages, twips have limitations in contemporary UI frameworks, where device-independent pixels (DIPs, defined as 1/96 inch) in CSS for web interfaces or English Metric Units (EMUs, with 914400 per inch) in Microsoft Office Open XML have largely supplanted them for greater precision and cross-platform compatibility. However, twips persist in binary file formats like the legacy .doc structure for maintaining backward compatibility in UI-related positioning data. RTF files, often embedded in UIs for text rendering, also rely on twips for similar consistency.^[31]

History and Adoption

Origins in Microsoft Products

The twip unit emerged in the 1980s as a key component of Microsoft's graphics and document handling systems, designed to mitigate inconsistencies in visual rendering across diverse hardware setups, including varying screen resolutions and printer capabilities. It was integrated into the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) with the release of Windows 1.0 in November 1985, where it underpinned the MM_TWIPS mapping mode to enable precise, device-independent coordinate transformations.^[32] Although Microsoft Word 1.0 for MS-DOS launched in October 1983, twips gained prominence in word processing through their adoption in the Rich Text Format (RTF), first specified in 1987 alongside Word 3.0 for Macintosh.^[33] The rationale for selecting the twip—a unit equal to 1/1440 of an inch—centered on its exceptional divisibility, as 1440 divides evenly into 72 (points per inch) by a factor of 20, facilitating accurate scaling for both digital displays and print outputs without fractional losses. This choice allowed Microsoft to transcend the limitations of coarser units like points, providing a unified scale for maintaining proportional integrity in layouts.^[34] A pivotal milestone was the twip's embedding in the Windows GDI for defining logical coordinate systems, which abstracted device specifics to support consistent graphics rendering from the platform's inception. Its formal documentation occurred in the RTF specification, published in the March 1987 issue of Microsoft Systems Journal, establishing twips as the standard for encoding measurements in text and graphics interchange across applications.^[24] Microsoft's overarching motivation in developing the twip was to foster platform and device independence, enabling seamless output portability in an era of heterogeneous computing environments and predating widespread high-DPI display challenges.^[35]

Use in Other Software

Twips serve as a base unit for drawing and text measurements in LibreOffice, an open-source office suite derived from OpenOffice.org, enabling precise compatibility with legacy Microsoft Word documents during import and export operations. LibreOffice's API includes functions such as TwipsPerPixelX and TwipsPerPixelY to convert between pixels and twips, ensuring consistent rendering across display systems. This internal use of twips facilitates the handling of .doc files, where measurements like margins and font sizes are stored in twips, allowing seamless support for binary Word formats without proprietary dependencies.^[36]^[37] Adobe products, including Acrobat and legacy versions of InDesign, provide partial support for twips through compatibility with RTF and older Word formats, primarily to enable import of formatted documents from Microsoft ecosystems. While Adobe prefers units like points or English Metric Units (EMUs) in its native workflows, twips are parsed during RTF processing to maintain layout fidelity in cross-application exchanges. This limited integration ensures backward compatibility for users migrating content from Word but does not extend to full native adoption in modern Adobe tools.^[38]^[35] The Rich Text Format (RTF), an open specification originally developed by Microsoft but widely adopted beyond its ecosystem, relies on twips for all measurements, including margins, indents, and line spacing, making it a key vector for twip usage in non-proprietary contexts. RTF's interoperability has led to its implementation in diverse applications, such as WordPad on Windows and various third-party word processors like those in the Apple ecosystem or older Lotus suites, as well as email clients supporting formatted text exchange. The binary .doc format specifications, now publicly documented, also specify twips for structural elements, influencing parsers in open-source tools that handle legacy Microsoft files.^[35]^[39]^[40] As of 2025, twips face deprecation trends in contemporary software development, with modern standards like CSS favoring relative units such as pixels, ems, and rems for web and cross-platform design, reducing reliance on fixed typographic measures. However, twips persist in legacy codebases, file parsers, and compatibility layers for handling pre-ODF and pre-DOCX documents, particularly in enterprise environments maintaining older document workflows. This retention underscores twips' role in ensuring archival accuracy amid ongoing migrations to open formats.^[41]^[42]

References

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master – PPT Master Unit (1/576 in). px – Pixel unit (15 twip, 96 ppi). ch – Char unit (210 twip, 14 px). line – Line unit (312 twip). Handling Overflows. If ...