The extinction of premixed flames under the influence of stretch is studied numerically. A wide range of fuel (hydrogen, ethylene, acetylene, methane, propane and methanol) and air mixtures are established in an opposed jet and their flame properties such as flame speed, flame thickness, thermal diffusivity, and stretch rate at extinction are computed. Computations are made using several chemical kinetic mechanism (Smooke, Kee et al. and Peters). The major result is that, in contrast to the various previous claims of extinction Karlovitz number varying over three orders of magnitude, it is found to be constant around two for all of the mixtures tested. That is, premixed flames are extinguished when the physical flow time decreases (due to increased stretch rate) to the point where it approximately equals the chemical reaction time. Here the relevant chemical reaction time is not the one computed using the one-dimensional flame properties as originally suggested in the formulation of Karlovitz number, but rather it is the one obtained using the stretched flame properties which fully reflect the effect of straining on the flame structure.