Volume & Capacity Converter

How this is calculated

Everything is converted to litres first and then out again, so there is one conversion step in and one out rather than a table of every possible pair. ⚠️ A US PINT AND AN IMPERIAL PINT ARE NOT THE SAME SIZE. The US liquid pint is 473.176473 mL; the Imperial pint is 568.26125 mL. The Imperial pint is about 20% larger. This is the single most common volume error in recipes, and it is invisible because both are just called a pint. ⚠️ AND THE FLUID OUNCES GO THE OTHER WAY. The US fluid ounce is 29.5735295625 mL; the Imperial fluid ounce is 28.4130625 mL - so the US fluid ounce is about 4% LARGER. The pint reverses because a US pint is 16 fluid ounces while an Imperial pint is 20. Two units, both called a pint, both built from something called a fluid ounce, and the bigger pint is made of smaller ounces. Nothing about the names warns you. THE FACTORS HERE ARE EXACT. The US liquid gallon is defined as exactly 231 cubic inches, which with the inch fixed at exactly 25.4 mm makes it exactly 3.785411784 litres; every smaller US unit is a fixed fraction of it. The Imperial gallon is defined as exactly 4.54609 litres. The litre is exactly one thousand cubic centimetres. These are definitions rather than measurements, so the conversion introduces no error of its own. US COOKING UNITS ARE CLEAN FRACTIONS OF EACH OTHER: a cup is 8 fluid ounces, a fluid ounce is 2 tablespoons, a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons. So a cup is exactly 16 tablespoons and exactly 48 teaspoons, and those relationships are worth knowing because they never need a calculator. ⚠️ A FLUID OUNCE IS A VOLUME, NOT A WEIGHT. An ounce on a scale is a mass; a fluid ounce is a capacity. They coincide only for something with about the density of water. A recipe asking for 8 fl oz of honey does not want 8 oz on a scale - honey is roughly 1.4 times as dense as water, so weighing it out would leave you well short. DRY PINTS AND QUARTS ARE NOT OFFERED. The US system also has a separate dry pint (about 550.6 mL) used for berries and produce, which is different again from the liquid pint. Mixing it into the same list is a reliable way to be out by 16% without noticing. Results are shown to three decimal places. Very large or very small results will show the rounding at that width rather than the full precision. This converter handles VOLUME only. It deliberately does not offer weight or length in the same dropdown, because a single list of mixed units lets you ask for litres in kilograms and get a confident number back for a question that has no answer.

Common questions

Is a US pint the same as a UK pint?

No, and the gap is large. A US liquid pint is 473.176473 mL and an Imperial pint is 568.26125 mL, so the Imperial pint is about 20% bigger. On a recipe that means a fifth more liquid than intended, which is enough to ruin a batter or a dough. Both are simply called a pint in ordinary writing, so the only reliable signal is where the recipe came from.

Why is the US fluid ounce bigger but the US pint smaller?

Because the two systems put a different number of fluid ounces in a pint. A US pint is 16 US fluid ounces; an Imperial pint is 20 Imperial fluid ounces. The US fluid ounce is slightly larger at 29.5735295625 mL against 28.4130625 mL - about 4% - but twenty of the smaller ones still beat sixteen of the larger ones. The result is genuinely counterintuitive: the bigger pint is made of smaller ounces.

Are these conversions exact?

Yes. The US liquid gallon is defined as exactly 231 cubic inches, and since the inch is exactly 25.4 mm that makes it exactly 3.785411784 litres. Every smaller US unit is a fixed fraction of the gallon. The Imperial gallon is defined as exactly 4.54609 litres. The litre is exactly a thousand cubic centimetres. All definitions, no measurements, so the conversion adds no error of its own.

How many tablespoons are in a cup?

Sixteen, in the US system, and it is exact rather than rounded. A US cup is 8 fluid ounces, a fluid ounce is 2 tablespoons, and a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons - so a cup is exactly 16 tablespoons and exactly 48 teaspoons. These relationships are worth memorising because they hold precisely and never need a calculator. Note that the Australian tablespoon is 20 mL rather than about 14.8, which breaks the pattern.

Is a fluid ounce the same as an ounce?

No. A fluid ounce measures volume; an ounce measures weight. They line up only for something with about the density of water. A recipe asking for 8 fl oz of honey wants a volume - honey is roughly 1.4 times as dense as water, so putting 8 oz on a scale would leave you nearly a third short. When a recipe mixes both, liquids are usually in fluid ounces and solids in ounces, and weighing is the more reliable of the two because volume depends on how tightly the ingredient was packed.

What about dry pints and quarts?

Deliberately left out. The US system has a separate dry measure used for produce - a dry pint is about 550.6 mL against the liquid pint's 473.2 - so a punnet of berries sold as a pint is not the same size as a pint of milk. It is a different unit that shares the name, and putting it in the same dropdown is a reliable way to be out by about 16% without noticing. If a source is measuring berries or grain by the pint, it is probably the dry one.

Why only volume?

Because a single dropdown mixing volume, weight and length lets you ask for litres expressed in kilograms, and a calculator that answers that confidently is worse than one that will not offer it. Keeping one dimension per tool means every conversion on the page is a real one. Weight and length have their own converters.

Take it further with AI

Copy this into ChatGPT or Claude with your own numbers filled in. It hands over the figures this calculator worked out, so the answer is built on real arithmetic instead of a guess.

I used the Volume & Capacity Converter at https://www.bfcbrilliance.com/tools/volume-converter.

What I entered:
- Volume: ___
- Measured in: ___

What it calculated:
- Millilitres: ___
- Litres: ___
- Teaspoons (US): ___
- Tablespoons (US): ___
- Fluid ounces (US): ___

Use those figures as given — they are already worked out, so please don't recalculate or estimate your own. Help me turn them into a plan: what to buy or do, in what order, roughly what it should cost, and the mistakes people most often make with this job.

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