An optical method of phase shifting interferometry is presented for the 3-dimensional profile measurement of mirror surfaces with nanometer resolution. A series of optical interferometric fringes are generated by comparing the surface to be measured with a reference flat. The fringes are captured by a CCD camera and then analyzed to obtain actual surface profile. Detailed principles are described along with necessary image processing algorithms. finally, several measurement examples are discussed which were performed on lapped surfaces, hard discs, and semiconductor wafers.