Length Converter
The United States measures length in inches, feet, yards and miles, while almost every other country uses millimeters, centimeters, meters and kilometers. Every conversion below is based on the international yard of exactly 0.9144 meters, agreed in 1959.
Length Conversions
- Feet to Meters 1 foot = 0.3048 meters
- Meters to Feet 1 meter = 3.28084 feet
- Inches to Centimeters 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters
- Centimeters to Inches 1 centimeter = 0.393701 inches
- Miles to Kilometers 1 mile = 1.609344 kilometers
- Kilometers to Miles 1 kilometer = 0.621371 miles
- Yards to Meters 1 yard = 0.9144 meters
- Meters to Yards 1 meter = 1.09361 yards
- Inches to Millimeters 1 inch = 25.4 millimeters
- Millimeters to Inches 1 millimeter = 0.0393701 inches
Common Length Questions
- How Many Feet in a Mile? There are 5,280 feet in one mile.
- How Many Inches in a Foot? There are exactly 12 inches in one foot.
- How Many Yards in a Mile? There are 1,760 yards in one mile.
- How Many Centimeters in an Inch? There are exactly 2.54 centimeters in one inch.
Length Units
Millimeter (mm)
A millimeter is one thousandth of a meter. It is the unit of choice for engineering drawings, rainfall and anything small enough that centimeters would need decimals.
Centimeter (cm)
A centimeter is one hundredth of a meter, or 10 millimeters. Most of the world lists body measurements, paper sizes and product dimensions in centimeters.
Meter (m)
The meter is the SI base unit of length, defined since 1983 as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. Every other length unit on this site, including the inch and the foot, is now defined against it.
Kilometer (km)
A kilometer is 1,000 meters, a little under two thirds of a mile. Road signs, race distances and car odometers outside the United States are all in kilometers.
Inch (in)
The inch is exactly 2.54 centimeters by international agreement. Americans use it for screen sizes, lumber, rainfall, tire rims and body height together with feet.
Foot (ft)
One foot is 12 inches, or exactly 0.3048 meters. It is the everyday American unit for human height, ceiling heights, room dimensions and aviation altitude.
Yard (yd)
A yard is 3 feet, or exactly 0.9144 meters. In the United States it survives mainly in football, fabric and landscaping materials sold by the cubic yard.
Mile (mi)
The statute mile is 5,280 feet, or exactly 1,609.344 meters. It is the unit on every American road sign and speedometer. A nautical mile is a different unit of 1,852 meters.
Every length value on this site is derived from the meter using exact definitions from NIST Special Publication 811, Appendix B. See how we calculate.