Common Measurement Abbreviations

The following is a list of conventions used for abbreviations in technical writing. I present them as an aid, and not as the only possible way of abbreviating these measurements. The most important thing is that you are consistent throughout your entire document.

Measurement Abbreviation
bits per second
bps
centimeters
cm
decibel
dB
dots per inch
dpi
feet
ft
frames per second
fps
gigabytes
GB
gigahertz
GHz
hertz
Hz
hours
hr
kilobytes
K
kilograms
kg
kilohertz
KHz
kilometers
km
lines
li
lines per inch
lpi
megabytes
MB
megahertz
MHz
meters
m
microseconds
us
miles
mi
millimeters
mm
milliseconds
ms
minutes
min
months
mo
nanoseconds
ns
ounce
oz
picas
pi
points
pt
pound
lb
seconds
sec
 

 


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