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The paper describes a generalized strength formulation for metal plates. The focus is on metallic alloys with nonlinear stress strain curves, such as aluminum and stainless steel. The formulation is based on a generalized Winter-curve featuring two material-dependent parameters. Analytic expressions are derived for these parameters so that they can be determined for given material properties assumed to be expressed in terms of the Ramberg-Osgood parameters ([E.sub.0], [sigma.sub.0.2], n). Thus, the generalized formulation allows the plate strength equation to be determined for a given alloy, requiring only the Ramberg-Osgood parameters. The strength curves obtained using the generalized formulation are shown to compare well with finite element results. The strength equations apply to uniformly compressed plates simply supported along all four edges. The validity ranges for the material properties are 3 [less than or equal to] n [less than or equal to] 100 and 0.001 [less than or equal to] e [less than or equal to] 0.003 where e = [sigma.sub.0.2] / [E.sub.0]. The plates are assumed to be free of residual stress. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(2003) 129:11(1433) CE Database subject headings: Plates; Metals; Stainless steel; Aluminum; Compressive strength; Finite elements.