View source for Device-independent pixel

{{Short description|Unit of length on computer displays}}
A '''device-independent pixel''' (also: ''density-independent pixel'', ''dip'', ''dp'') is a [[Unit of length|unit of length]].

A typical use is to allow mobile device software to scale the display of information and user interaction to different screen sizes. The abstraction allows an application to work in pixels as a measurement, while the underlying graphics system converts the abstract pixel measurements of the application into real pixel measurements appropriate to the particular device.
For example, on the [[Software:Android (operating system)|Android]] operating system a device-independent pixel is equivalent to one physical pixel on a 160 [[Dots per inch|dpi]] screen,<ref>{{cite web |title=Support different pixel densities |url=https://developer.android.com/training/multiscreen/screendensities |website=Android for Developers |publisher=Google |access-date=30 March 2023}}</ref> while the [[Organization:Windows Presentation Foundation|Windows Presentation Foundation]] specifies one device-independent pixel as equivalent to 1/96th of an inch.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Samer |author2=Chipalo |title=WPF Text Measurement Units |url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/text/archive/2009/12/11/wpf-text-measurement-units.aspx |website=MSDN Blogs |publisher=Microsoft |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094559/https://blogs.msdn.com/b/text/archive/2009/12/11/wpf-text-measurement-units.aspx |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

As dp is a physical unit it has an absolute value which can be measured in traditional units, e.g. for Android devices 1 dp equals 1/160 of inch or 0.15875 mm.

While traditional pixels only refer to the display of information, device-independent pixels may also be used to measure user input such as input on a touch screen device.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Computer graphics]]
[[Category:Units of length]]


{{Sourceattribution|Device-independent pixel}}