Meters to KM Converter
Meters to kilometers, or metres to kilometres, is one division: km = m / 1,000. A kilometre is exactly 1,000 metres, because kilo is the SI prefix for a thousand, so 500 m is 0.5 km, 1,500 m is 1.5 km and 42,195 m is 42.195 km. Mathematically, the decimal point moves three places; the displayed answer may round longer inputs to twelve significant digits. The converter above opens with Metre in the From box and Kilometre in the To box whatever you converted last, prints the answer to twelve significant digits as you type, and lists the same distance in millimetres, centimetres, inches, feet, yards, miles and nautical miles underneath. The Swap units button between the two boxes turns the page into a kilometres to metres converter, where the division becomes a multiplication by 1,000.
1 m in every length unit
Metres to kilometres at the distances people look up
Every kilometre figure is the converter's own output for that number of metres. Metres to kilometres only moves the decimal point three places, so each figure is a shift of the number beside it rather than a rounding of it.
| Metres | Kilometres | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 m | 0.001 | A thousandth of a kilometre |
| 10 m | 0.01 | A hundredth of a kilometre |
| 50 m | 0.05 | One length of an Olympic pool |
| 100 m | 0.1 | The sprint, run on the straight |
| 200 m | 0.2 | Half a lap of an outdoor track |
| 400 m | 0.4 | One lap of an outdoor track |
| 500 m | 0.5 | Half a kilometre |
| 800 m | 0.8 | Two laps of an outdoor track |
| 1,000 m | 1 | One kilometre, by definition |
| 1,500 m | 1.5 | The metric mile |
| 1,609.344 m | 1.609344 | One statute mile, exactly |
| 2,000 m | 2 | The standard rowing race distance |
| 3,000 m | 3 | The steeplechase distance |
| 5,000 m | 5 | A 5K |
| 10,000 m | 10 | A 10K |
| 21,097.5 m | 21.0975 | A half marathon |
| 42,195 m | 42.195 | A marathon |
| 100,000 m | 100 | One hundred kilometres |
Common questions
- How do you convert meters to km?
- Divide by 1,000. That is the whole conversion: 500 m is 0.5 km, 750 m is 0.75 km and 5,000 m is 5 km. The digits stay put and the decimal point moves three places to the left. Going the other way, multiply kilometres by 1,000, so 2.4 km is 2,400 m. The Swap units button between the two boxes reverses the pair without reloading the page.
- How many meters are in a kilometer?
- Exactly 1,000. Kilo is the SI prefix for a thousand, so this is a definition rather than a measurement: there is no approximation inside it and no country where it differs. That is why 1,000 m comes back from the converter as 1 and 5,000 m as 5, with nothing trailing after the decimal point.
- What is 100 m in km?
- 0.1 km. The short distances people look up all land on clean decimals for the same reason: 50 m is 0.05 km, 200 m is 0.2 km, 400 m, which is one lap of an outdoor track, is 0.4 km, and 800 m is 0.8 km. The table below the converter runs from 1 m to 100,000 m and names what each distance usually is.
- How many meters is a 5K, and how long is a marathon in km?
- A 5K is 5,000 m and a 10K is 10,000 m, since both are named for their kilometres. A marathon is 42,195 m, which the converter reads as 42.195 km, and a half marathon is 21,097.5 m, or 21.0975 km. A mile is 1,609.344 m by definition, so it comes out as 1.609344 km.
- Can I convert kilometers back to meters on this page?
- Yes. Press Swap units and the pair reverses: type 1 and the answer is 1,000 m, and 0.4 km reads as 400 m. Both unit menus stay open as well, so the same number will go from metres to feet, miles, nautical miles or millimetres without leaving the page.
- Why does this page open on metres and kilometres when I last converted something else?
- Because a page that names a pair should show that pair. This one sets metres and kilometres on arrival, ahead of whatever the converter last remembered, and it leaves the full converter's own memory alone: go back to the unit converter and it is still on the pair you left it on. The number you last typed does travel with you, since it is usually the one you are still working on.
- The menus say Metre and Kilometre. Is that the same as meter and kilometer?
- Yes. Metre and kilometre are the international spellings used in the SI brochure, meter and kilometer are the American ones, and the units behind them are identical. The symbols are m and km everywhere, and so is the arithmetic.
- How precise is the answer, and can I copy it?
- The conversion is a single division by 1,000, carried out in double precision, and the result is printed to twelve significant digits with trailing zeros dropped, so 1,000 m reads as 1 and not as 1.00000000000. Twelve digits is well inside what the arithmetic carries, and it absorbs the floating-point residue that shows up when a length is carried into a unit that does not divide evenly: 1 m in the Mile row reads 0.000621371192237. Results smaller than a millionth of a kilometre switch to exponential notation, so 0.0001 m shows as 1e-7 km while 0.001 m stays decimal at 0.000001. Copy result puts the headline on the clipboard with the digits exactly as shown but without the thousands separators. Everything runs in your browser against a table of factors that ships with the page, so it keeps working with no network connection once the page has loaded.
Conversion factors are the exact legal definitions where one exists. An inch is exactly 2.54 cm and a pound exactly 0.45359237 kg, so those conversions are exact rather than approximate. Temperature uses offsets rather than factors, and that is shown in the working.