Length Converter

Length is the first measurement you translate when you travel, shop or build: a hotel bed listed at 200 cm, fabric sold by the yard, a track marked out in miles. The units rarely agree, and guessing — a metre is about three feet, right? — is how a sofa ends up too wide for its alcove. This converter takes any distance you enter and shows it in every unit you are likely to meet, from millimetres up to miles.

Enter values

Results

In feet (ft): 32.8084
In centimetres (cm): 1,000
In kilometres (km): 0.01
In millimetres (mm): 10,000
In miles (mi): 0.006214
Exact factor: 1 m = 3.28084 ft

How is the Length Converter calculated?

Enter a distance, pick the unit it is currently written in, and pick the unit you want back. The headline result shows your value in the chosen unit; beneath it the same length appears in four other common units, so a wrong choice of scale is obvious immediately. The final row states the exact factor (1 inch = 25.4 mm) so you can repeat the calculation with a pen. Decimals are welcome: 0.75 m and 12.5 cm both work.

Formula

Every conversion passes through metres: metres = value × from-unit factor, then target = metres ÷ to-unit factor. Exact factors: 1 in = 25.4 mm · 1 ft = 0.3048 m · 1 yd = 0.9144 m · 1 mi = 1,609.344 m · 1 km = 1,000 m. Metres to feet is × 3.28084; feet to metres is ÷ 3.28084 (or × 0.3048).

Example

A holiday walk is 5 km: 5 × 0.621371 = 3.11 miles, which is why a 5 km parkrun is advertised as 'about three miles'. Airlines size cabin bags at 158 cm across the three sides; that is 158 ÷ 2.54 = 62.20 inches and 158 ÷ 30.48 = 5.18 feet, a shade over 5 ft 2 in. A 25 m lap pool works out at 25 × 3.28084 = 82.02 ft when the sign at the end is imperial.

Things to remember

The inch and mile are defined by agreement, not tradition: 1 inch is exactly 25.4 mm and 1 mile exactly 1,609.344 m, so only the display rounds. When a measurement matters — freight, furniture, fabric — check it against two units here, and keep a decimal place rather than rounding to the nearest foot.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many feet are there in one metre?

3.28084 feet. One metre equals 1 ÷ 0.3048 = 3.280839895 ft exactly, which reads as 3.28 ft for everyday use. The reverse shortcut is just as easy: divide feet by 3.28084 to get metres, so 6 ft is about 1.83 m.

How do I convert centimetres into inches?

Divide centimetres by 2.54, because the inch is defined as exactly 2.54 cm. A 30 cm ruler is 30 ÷ 2.54 = 11.81 in. Multiply inches by 2.54 to reverse it, or use the calculator above to see inches, feet and metres at the same time.

Which is longer, a mile or a kilometre?

A mile, by 60%. One mile is 1.609344 km, so 5 km equals 3.11 miles and a half marathon of 21.0975 km is 13.11 miles. A useful midpoint to remember: 10 km is 6.21 miles, roughly six and a bit.

Are these length conversions exact or rounded?

Exact. 1 inch = 25.4 mm, 1 ft = 0.3048 m and 1 mi = 1,609.344 m are fixed by international agreement, so only the on-screen display rounds. Copy a value out, convert it back and you land on the number you started with.