RPO
Recovery Point Objective
The maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured backward in time.
Plain English
How much recent data the business can afford to lose.
In context
RPO determines backup replication and recovery requirements based on acceptable data loss.
Example
“Hourly backups give this system an RPO of up to one hour.”
When you'll hear this
- disaster recovery
- data protection
- architecture review
Common misunderstanding
RPO measures tolerated data loss rather than restoration duration.
Also known as
recovery point objective
Commonly used by
Related terms
Often compared with
Updated: 2026-08-25
