When to use it
Use this converter to switch between liters, milliliters, gallons, pints, cups, fluid ounces and other volume units. It is useful for recipes, fuel and paint quantities, aquarium and pool sizes, drink portions, and science lessons.
How to use it
- Enter the amount in Value.
- Choose the unit you have, such as Liters (L).
- Choose the unit you want, such as Gallons (US) (US gal).
- Read the result, or use Copy result.
- Use the swap button to convert back.
The All conversions table lists every unit, including cubic meters, cubic inches and feet, US teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, pints and quarts, and the UK fluid ounce, pint and gallon.
Worked example
You need to buy 10 liters of paint, but the store sells it in US gallons. Enter 10, choose liters and US gallons, and the result is 2.641720524 US gal, so three 1-gallon cans will cover it with some to spare.
If you were in the UK, the table shows the same 10 liters as about 2.2 UK gallons. That gap is why a UK gallon of fuel always seems larger than an American one.
For drinks, a 750 ml bottle of wine is about 25.4 US fluid ounces.
US and UK sizes
| Unit | US | UK |
|---|---|---|
| Fluid ounce | 29.57 ml | 28.41 ml |
| Pint | 473 ml | 568 ml |
| Gallon | 3.785 L | 4.546 L |
Cooking with cups and spoons
For liquids such as milk, water and oil, converting cups and spoons to milliliters works well. For dry ingredients, a cup of flour weighs much less than a cup of sugar, so a volume conversion is not enough. Use the Cooking Converter to turn cups into grams for common ingredients.
Tank and pool sizes
For a rectangular tank, multiply length, width and depth in centimeters and divide by 1,000 to get liters. A tank 60 × 30 × 40 cm holds 72 liters, about 19 US gallons.
Tips
- Check the recipe’s origin. An American recipe means US cups and pints. A British one means UK pints.
- Use milliliters for small amounts. They are easier to measure with a jug or syringe than fractions of a cup.
- Round for practical use. Nobody can pour 2.6417 gallons, so round to what your container shows.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up US and UK pints. A UK pint is about 20% larger.
- Using fluid ounces for weight. Fluid ounces measure volume, not weight.
- Treating a cup as 250 ml in US recipes. The difference adds up in baking.