Volume Converter (litres, gallons, cups, m³)
Convert volume between millilitres, litres, cubic metres, cubic inches and feet, teaspoons, cups, pints, quarts, and US or imperial gallons.
Volume conversion reference
| 1 unit | mL | L | gal | ft³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mL | 1 | 0.001 | 0.000264172 | 0.0000353147 |
| 1 L | 1 000 | 1 | 0.264172 | 0.0353147 |
| 1 m³ | 1 000 000 | 1 000 | 264.172 | 35.3147 |
| 1 cm³ | 1 | 0.001 | 0.000264172 | 0.0000353147 |
| 1 in³ | 16.3871 | 0.0163871 | 0.004329 | 0.000578704 |
| 1 ft³ | 28 316.8 | 28.3168 | 7.48052 | 1 |
| 1 tsp | 4.92892 | 0.00492892 | 0.00130208 | 0.000174063 |
| 1 tbsp | 14.7868 | 0.0147868 | 0.00390625 | 0.00052219 |
| 1 cup | 236.588 | 0.236588 | 0.0625 | 0.00835503 |
| 1 pt | 473.176 | 0.473176 | 0.125 | 0.0167101 |
| 1 qt | 946.353 | 0.946353 | 0.25 | 0.0334201 |
| 1 gal | 3 785.41 | 3.78541 | 1 | 0.133681 |
| 1 gal UK | 4 546.09 | 4.54609 | 1.20095 | 0.160544 |
Converting volume units
Volume measures the space something occupies, and it comes in three overlapping families: metric units built on the litre and the cubic metre, US customary units (teaspoons through gallons), and imperial units, which share names with the US ones but are not the same size. This converter handles all of them at once, working through the cubic metre.
The relationships worth knowing
A litre is exactly 1000 cm³, and a cubic metre holds 1000 litres — so a cubic metre of water is a tonne. In the kitchen, 3 teaspoons make a tablespoon and 16 tablespoons make a US cup (236.6 mL). Going up, 2 cups make a pint, 2 pints a quart, and 4 quarts a US gallon of 3.785 litres.
The gallon trap
The most common mistake is mixing gallons: a US gallon is 3.785 L while an imperial (UK) gallon is 4.546 L — about 20% bigger. That difference quietly wrecks fuel-economy and recipe conversions, which is why both appear separately here. US and imperial pints differ for the same reason.
Worked example
A 5 US gallon container is 5 × 3.785 = 18.93 litres, or 0.0189 m³. The same 5 imperial gallons would be 22.73 litres — nearly four litres more. For a recipe, 250 mL is about 1.06 US cups, close enough that many recipes treat a cup as 250 mL.
US and imperial gallons are not the same
The exact conversions here hide a trap in the naming. A US liquid gallon is 3.785 litres and an imperial gallon is 4.546 — about 20% larger — and both are simply called a gallon. The same applies to pints, quarts and fluid ounces. A recipe or a fuel figure quoted in "gallons" without a nationality is ambiguous, and the error is large enough to matter. US dry measures are different again.