Volume Converter
Convert between mL, liters, cups, pints, gallons, fl oz, and more.
From
To
Result
236.588
Milliliter (mL)
Common conversions
| Conversion | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 cup → mL | 236.588 |
| 1 L → fl oz | 33.8140565 |
| 1 gallon → L | 3.78541 |
| 1 pint → mL | 473.176 |
| 1 tbsp → tsp | 3.00000812 |
| 1 quart → cups | 4.00000423 |
Volume units in cooking and science
Volume is measured differently in the kitchen and in the lab. US cooking uses teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, pints, quarts, and gallons. Science and most of the world use the metric millilitre (mL) and litre (L) — 1 mL is exactly 1 cm³. A US cup is 236.588 mL, a fluid ounce is 29.57 mL, and a US gallon is 3.785 L. All these measures link through millilitres so the math stays exact. Conversions run entirely in your browser, with no data sent to any server.
Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated
What this tool is used for
- Converting a recipe quantity between metric and US kitchen measures.
- Reading a container capacity against a specification in different units.
- Converting a fluid volume for a supplier quoting in another system.
- Scaling a recipe up or down where the unit changes as the quantity grows.
- Converting between cups, pints and litres in one step rather than several.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why is a US gallon different from an imperial one?
- Different origins. The US gallon is the old English wine gallon, defined as exactly 231 cubic inches — 3.785411784 litres. The imperial gallon was redefined in 1824 as the volume of ten pounds of water, 4.54609 litres. The imperial one is about 20% larger.
- Are US and imperial fluid ounces the same?
- No, and they differ in the opposite direction to the gallons: a US fluid ounce is 29.57 ml and an imperial one 28.41 ml, so the US ounce is LARGER. The gallons differ because a US gallon holds 128 ounces and an imperial gallon holds 160.
- Which cup does a recipe mean?
- Usually the US customary cup, 236.6 ml, but a US legal cup is 240 ml, a metric cup 250 ml, and an imperial cup 284 ml. That is a 20% spread on the same word, which is why baking recipes that matter are increasingly published by weight.
- Is a litre exactly a cubic decimetre?
- Since 1964, yes, exactly. Between 1901 and 1964 it was defined as the volume of one kilogram of water at maximum density, which turned out to be 1.000028 dm³ — so a small number of old measurements carry that discrepancy and were re-expressed when the definition changed.
- Why does volume conversion compound rounding so quickly?
- Because most factors are irrational-looking decimals rather than exact integers, and chaining conversions multiplies the error. Convert once, directly, using the exact factor — going teaspoons to millilitres to fluid ounces to cups introduces four roundings where one would do.
Common errors and gotchas
- Not distinguishing US from imperial pints, quarts and gallons, which differ by about 20%.
- Confusing dry and liquid measures, which are different volumes in US units.
- Assuming a cup is standardised, when the US, metric and Commonwealth cups all differ.
- Converting volume when the recipe actually specified weight, which depends on the ingredient.
- Rounding a small volume where the absolute error matters more than the percentage.
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