Liters to Cubic Feet (L to ft³)

Common questions

How many cubic feet is 1 liter?

0.0353146667215 cubic feet, which is 1 divided by 28.316846592. Everything scales straight through, so 10 L is 0.353146667215 ft³, 100 L is 3.53146667215 ft³ and 1,000 L is 35.3146667215 ft³: the same digits with the point moved, because the whole conversion is a single division. The amounts asked about most often: 50 L is 1.76573333607 ft³, 200 L is 7.0629333443 ft³, 300 L is 10.5944000164 ft³ and 500 L is 17.6573333607 ft³. Type the liters into the From box and the answer appears without pressing anything, and Copy result copies the figure without the thousands separators so it pastes straight into a spreadsheet.

What is the formula for liters to cubic feet?

Cubic feet = liters / 28.316846592, or equivalently liters × 0.0353146667215, which is the same operation written the other way round. This page divides by the full exact figure rather than multiplying by a shortened 0.0353, which is why 28.316846592 L comes back as exactly 1 ft³ and 566.33693184 L as exactly 20 ft³ instead of as a trail of nines. Rounding the factor to 0.0353 is off by about 0.04 percent, which is nothing on a bucket and about 0.015 ft³ on a 1,000 L tank.

Why is 28.316846592 liters per cubic foot exact rather than approximate?

Because both units are defined rather than measured. The international foot has been exactly 0.3048 meters since the 1959 agreement on the yard and the pound, so a cubic foot is 0.3048 × 0.3048 × 0.3048 cubic meters, which is exactly 0.028316846592 m³. The liter has been exactly one cubic decimeter, a thousandth of a cubic meter, since 1964. A thousand times 0.028316846592 gives 28.316846592 liters in a cubic foot with no rounding at any step, and that is the number this converter carries.

Is the decimal exact, or is it rounded?

The factor is exact; the decimal going from liters to cubic feet is not. As a fraction, a cubic foot is 55,306,341/1,953,125 liters, so a liter is 1,953,125/55,306,341 of a cubic foot. The bottom of that fraction is 3³ × 127³, and a denominator carrying any prime other than 2 and 5 cannot produce a decimal that ends, so 0.0353146667215 is a rounding of a figure that runs for ever. The page shows twelve significant digits and stops there, well inside what the arithmetic carries. Volumes that land on a whole multiple of 28.316846592 L come back exact: 56.633693184 L reads 2 ft³ and 283.16846592 L reads 10 ft³.

How do I convert cubic feet back to liters?

Multiply by 28.316846592. So 2 ft³ is 56.633693184 L, 5 ft³ is 141.58423296 L, 10 ft³ is 283.16846592 L and 20 ft³ is 566.33693184 L. That direction is the tidy one: multiplying by a decimal that terminates, so those answers stop rather than repeat. The Swap units button between the two boxes reverses the pair without a reload, and the number you typed stays where it is while the units change places.

Where do cubic feet get used instead of liters?

In the United States, the capacity of a refrigerator, a freezer, a microwave, a chest cooler or a storage unit is quoted in cubic feet, while the same product sold elsewhere is quoted in liters, and that mismatch is most of this search. A fridge listed at 300 L is 10.5944000164 ft³, one at 500 L is 17.6573333607 ft³, and a 20 ft³ American fridge is 566.33693184 L. Aquariums go both ways as well, so a 200 L tank is 7.0629333443 ft³. Freight and self-storage quotes use cubic feet too, where the useful anchor is that one cubic meter, 1,000 L, is 35.3146667215 ft³.

How is this different from converting liters to gallons or fluid ounces?

A cubic foot is a cube of a length, one foot along each edge, and it counts space: appliance interiors, bulk material, freight. The US gallon and the US fluid ounce are liquid measures defined off the cubic inch, since a US liquid gallon is exactly 231 cubic inches, and they answer the kitchen and the fuel pump. All of them sit in this one Volume category and convert cleanly between each other: a single cubic foot is 7.48051948052 US gallons, 957.506493506 US fluid ounces and 6.22883545904 imperial gallons. The list under the answer already carries the US gallon, quart, pint, cup, tablespoon, teaspoon and fluid ounce for whatever liter figure you typed, and the three imperial units and the cubic inch join it when you tick the switch marked Show 5 more.

How do I work out the liters or the cubic feet in the first place?

Multiply length by width by height with every measurement in the same unit: a box 2 m by 0.5 m by 0.4 m is 0.4 m³, which is 400 L and 14.1258666886 ft³. For a cylinder, a cone, a tank filled part way or a pool with a sloping floor, the volume calculator linked below takes the dimensions instead, and when you measure in meters or centimeters its list prints liters and cubic feet side by side, so the conversion is already done.

Why does the page open on liters and cubic feet, and does it change my saved units?

A page that names a pair should arrive on that pair, so this one sets the Volume category with the liter in From and the cubic foot in To ahead of whatever the converter remembered from your last visit. Your own saved pair survives it: go back to the main unit converter and it is still on the units you left it on. The amount you last typed does travel with you, since that is usually the number you are still working on, and Start over in the row above the heading clears what the converter has kept.

Does anything I type here leave my browser?

No. The conversion is one division against a table of factors that ships with the page, so there is no upload, no account and no network request, and it keeps working with the connection off once the page has loaded. What you typed is kept in your own browser's storage so the figure is still there when you come back.