List of common units
Use common units so that readers can understand and compare measurements and quantities.
The following table indicates the style to use for the most common units and abbreviations used in Unity content. If a unit isn't mentioned in the table, or if readers might confuse it for a different unit, then write the name of the unit out in full.
For more information about writing measurements and quantities with units, refer to Units and measurements.
| Category | Unit | Abbreviation and usage |
|---|---|---|
| Length | millimeter | mm |
| centimeter | cm | |
| meter | m | |
| kilometer | km | |
| Speed | meters per second | meters per second Don't abbreviate to mps, m/s, or ms–1 |
| Area | square meter | m2 |
| Volume | cubic meter | m3 |
| liter | l | |
| Weight | gram | g |
| kilogram | kg | |
| tonne | tonne A tonne is 1,000 kilograms. | |
| Time | milliseconds | ms |
| seconds | s | |
| minutes | mins | |
| hours | hours | |
| days | days Don't abbreviate units of time larger than minutes. | |
| weeks | weeks Don't abbreviate units of time larger than minutes. | |
| months | months Don't abbreviate units of time larger than minutes. | |
| years | years Don't abbreviate units of time larger than minutes. | |
| Angles | degrees | ° |
| radians | rad Use radians only in technical content that requires radians. Otherwise, convert the value to degrees. | |
| Temperature | degrees Celcius | ° C |
| degrees Farenheit | ° F Use degrees Farenheit only in informal content when you are confident that most readers understand this scale. Otherwise, convert the value to degrees Celcius. | |
| Resolution, image, and font size | pixels | pixels Don't abbreviate to "p" or "P" unless referring to pixels per inch or megapixels. |
| pixels per inch | pixels per inch ppi For usage notes, refer to pixels per inch in the terminology list. | |
| megapixels | MP | |
| points | pt | |
| Memory Unity uses binary memory units. For example, a kilobyte is 1024 bytes, not 1000 bytes. | byte | byte Don't abbreviate byte. |
| kilobyte | KB | |
| megabyte | MB | |
| gigabyte | GB | |
| terabyte | TB | |
| Frequency and rates | frames per second | frames per second fps For usage notes, refer to frames per second in the terminology list. |
| hertz | Hz You can use metric prefixes to indicate higher frequencies, such as kHz, MHz, and GHz. | |
| megabits per second | Mbps Use megabits per second to measure data transfer rates. Don't use megabits or bits to measure data. | |
| gigabits per second | Gbps Use gigabits per second to measure data transfer rates. Don't use gigabits or bits to measure data. | |
| Color depth Bit depth | bits per pixel | bits per pixel bpp For usage notes, refer to bits per pixel in the terminology list. |
| bits per channel | bits per channel Don't abbreviate bits per channel. |