Abstract: A face seal assembly comprises a pair of co-operating seal rings of which one is provided for mounting on a rotary component and the other on a stationary component. The seal rings have substantially radially aligned seal faces between which during operation a seal gap is provided for sealing a zone peripherally outward of the seal faces relative to a zone peripherally inward thereof. A plurality of peripherally spaced recesses effective for pumping a gas are provided in at least one of the seal faces, said gas recesses extending from one periphery of the seal face towards, but the of ends said recesses being radially spaced from, the other periphery thereof. A surface area ratio FGFA/FG g in a range between 0.35 and 0.65, preferably 0.4 and 0.6 is provided on the seal face having said gas recesses. FGFA is the total surface area of the gas recesses as a projection onto the seal face, and FG is the total surface area of the seal face.