Volume converter

The cubic meter is the SI reference unit for volume, and the liter is simply a convenient subdivision of it: 1 liter equals 0.001 m³. Everything else here is pinned to that same cubic meter, whether it's a US gallon (0.0037854117839999997 m³), a UK gallon (0.00454609 m³), or a cubic foot (0.0283168 m³) used in construction.

The pairing shown by default is liter to US gallon. Multiply by 0.2641720524 to go from liter to gallon (US):

gal = L × 0.2641720524

Reverse it by multiplying by 3.785411784, the same as dividing by 0.2641720524. A 2-liter soda bottle holds 2 × 0.2641720524 = 0.528 gal, and a 5-US-gallon water jug holds 5 × 3.785411784 = 18.93 L.

Volume units split sharply by industry and geography. Fuel economy and beverage sizes are quoted in liters almost everywhere except the US, which still runs on gallons at the pump and in grocery aisles. Recipes depend heavily on cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons in American cookbooks but milliliters in most international ones. Construction and civil engineering lean on cubic yards and cubic feet for concrete, soil, and fill, while large-scale water management — reservoirs, irrigation rights, flood modeling — is measured in acre-feet, since that unit conveniently describes one acre flooded to one foot deep.

The sharpest pitfall in this category is that US and UK (imperial) units with identical names are not the same size. A US gallon is 3.785411784 L, but a UK gallon is 4.54609 L — about 20% larger. The same split carries through to quarts, pints, and fluid ounces, and it even hits the humble teaspoon and tablespoon: a US tablespoon is 14.79 mL while a UK tablespoon is 17.76 mL. Using a UK recipe's tablespoon counts with US-sized spoons (or vice versa) will throw off baking ratios in a way that's easy to miss until the result comes out of the oven.