Abstract: In this paper, 324 worldwide acceleration recordings were selected to study response spectral characteristics including vertical-to-horizontal (V/H) spectral ratio, spectral characteristics period which was corresponding to peak period (T_p), maximum dynamic amplification coefficient (β_max), the maximum spectral acceleration or maximum seismic effect coefficient (α_max) and the difference between peak periods of two horizontal components (ΔT_p). This article also studied the difference of some of these parameters between vertical and horizontal recordings, as well as relationships between these parameters and site conditions, magnitude and epicentral distance. It is concluded from the statistical results that 1) the commonly used value of V/H= 2/3 in current seismic design code is reasonable and acceptable; 2) vertical T_p is usually smaller than horizontal one, and vertical T_p increases with epicentral distance and magnitude increasing, which is almost independent of site conditions; 3) α_max decreases with epicentral distance increasing. The effect of site condition on α_max is insignificant when the epicentral distance is large; 4) There is a certain difference between peak periods of the response spectrum of two horizontal components, which increases slightly with the magnitude increasing.