Embodiments of the present invention relate to wear measurement. A system according to one embodiment includes a transport mechanism for running a tape across a wear structure and a measuring device for optically measuring an extent of wear of the wear structure. A method according to one embodiment includes positioning a tape across a wear structure, optically determining a first position of a back of the tape relative to a measuring device using the measuring device, running the tape across the wear structure for a period of time, optically determining a second position of the back of the tape relative to the measuring device using the measuring device after the period of time, and determining a difference between the first and second positions.