Feet to metres
Convert feet to metres. Multiply by 0.3048 for an exact result, with tables for height in feet and inches, rooms and altitudes.
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The formula
metres = feet × 0.3048This factor is exact, not approximate. Since 1959 a foot has been defined as exactly 0.3048 metres — three tenths of a metre and a little more — so this direction of the conversion is lossless.
To go the other way, divide by 0.3048. See m to feet.
Quick reference
| Feet | Metres |
|---|---|
| 1 ft | 0.3048 m |
| 3 ft | 0.9144 m — one yard |
| 6 ft | 1.829 m |
| 10 ft | 3.048 m |
| 100 ft | 30.48 m |
| 1000 ft | 304.8 m |
Feet and inches together
A height or a room dimension is normally written as feet and inches. Convert the inches to a fraction of a foot first — divide by 12 — then multiply the whole thing by 0.3048:
| Feet and inches | Decimal feet | Metres |
|---|---|---|
| 5′ 0″ | 5.000 ft | 1.524 m |
| 5′ 4″ | 5.333 ft | 1.626 m |
| 5′ 6″ | 5.500 ft | 1.676 m |
| 5′ 8″ | 5.667 ft | 1.727 m |
| 5′ 10″ | 5.833 ft | 1.778 m |
| 6′ 0″ | 6.000 ft | 1.829 m |
| 6′ 2″ | 6.167 ft | 1.880 m |
| 6′ 4″ | 6.333 ft | 1.930 m |
Or work in inches throughout: multiply the feet by 12, add the inches, and multiply by 2.54 to get centimetres. See inches to cm.
Rooms and buildings
| Feet | Metres | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard US ceiling | 8 ft | 2.44 m |
| Standard interior door | 6 ft 8 in | 2.03 m |
| Single bed length | 6 ft 3 in | 1.90 m |
| Standard shipping container | 20 ft | 6.10 m |
| Long shipping container | 40 ft | 12.19 m |
A twenty-foot container is 6.1 m long, which is where TEU — twenty-foot equivalent unit, the way container ship capacity is counted — comes from.
The US survey foot
Until 2022 the United States maintained a second foot for land surveying, longer than the international foot by exactly two parts per million. Over a room the difference is invisible. Over a state boundary it is metres, which is why the two were kept separate for so long and why old survey data has to be read carefully. This converter uses the international foot, which is now the only one in official use.
Estimating in your head
Divide by 3, then take off a little. 10 ft ÷ 3 is 3.33 m against a true 3.05 m, so that runs about 9% high. Multiplying by 0.3 is better: 3.0 m, which is 1.6% low.