Several circumstances may explain the great variation in reported proton T1 and T2 relaxation times usually seen. This study was designed to evaluate the accuracy of relaxation time measurements by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) operating at 1.5 tesla. Using a phantom of nine boxes with different concentrations of CuSO4 and correlating the calculated T1 and T2 values with reference values obtained by two spectrometers (corrected to MRI-proton frequency = 64 MHz) we found a maximum deviation of about 10 per cent. Measurements performed on a large water phantom in order to evaluate the homogeneity in the imaging plane showed a variation of less than 10 per cent within 10 cm from the centre of the magnet in all three imaging planes. Changing the gradient field strength apparently had no influence on the T2 values recorded. Consequently diffusion processes seem without significance. It is concluded that proton T1 and T2 relaxation times covering the majority of the biologic range can be measured by MRI with an overall accuracy of 5 to 10 per cent. Quality control studies along the lines indicated in this study are recommended.