Iacopini and Zavattini [Vacuum polarization effects in the (μ−4He)+ atom and the Born–Infeld electromagnetic theory, Nuovo Cimento B 78 (1983) 38–52] proposed a (p, τ)-two-parameter modification of Born–Infeld electrodynamics, in which the classical self-energy for an electron takes a finite value for p < 1. In this paper, we want to study a cylindrical capacitor from the viewpoint of Iacopini–Zavattini nonlinear electrodynamics analytically. The capacitance, the electrostatic potential energy, and the potential difference between the plates of a cylindrical capacitor are calculated in the framework of Iacopini–Zavattini electrodynamics for two specific values of p = 1 2 and p = 3 4. The study of the behavior of a nonlinear cylindrical capacitor in the weak electric fields shows that our results are compatible with the correspondence principle, i.e. we recover the results of Maxwell electrodynamics in the weak field regime. Finally, the invariance of Iacopini–Zavattini nonlinear electrodynamics under the duality transformation is investigated.