Convert ft/s to m/s feet per second ↔ metres per second Free Online Secure
Type a value in feet per second and read it in metres per second at once. The factor is exact by definition, the arithmetic happens in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Nothing uploaded
Convert from feet per second
Convert to metres per second
Common values — Convert ft/s to m/s (feet per second ↔ metres per second)
| ft/s | m/s |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.3048 |
| 2 | 0.6096 |
| 3 | 0.9144 |
| 5 | 1.524 |
| 10 | 3.048 |
| 20 | 6.096 |
| 50 | 15.24 |
| 100 | 30.48 |
Where these units come from
Speed has no unit of its own: it is a length divided by a time, so every trade simply kept the length it was already using. That is why the same motion is 100 km/h on a European road sign, 62 mph on an American one and 27.8 m/s in a physics problem. The knot is the oldest of them and the most literal: sailors paid out a line with knots tied at even spacing and counted how many ran through their fingers while a sand glass emptied, so the speed was read off in knots. One knot is one nautical mile per hour, and a nautical mile is a minute of latitude — which is why ships and aircraft still use it. The speed of light is the odd one out: since 1983 it is not measured but fixed at exactly 299,792,458 m/s, because the metre is now defined from it.
Where you meet them
Kilometres and miles per hour live on speedometers and road signs, metres per second in physics, engineering and wind reports, feet per second in ballistics and in American machine shops. Knots carry shipping, aviation and marine weather, and Mach numbers appear wherever an aircraft is fast enough for the air's own stiffness to matter. The speed of light turns up less in daily life than in distances: a light year is simply how far it gets in one.
Questions people ask
Is Mach 1 a fixed speed?
No. Mach is a ratio to the speed of sound in the surrounding air, and sound travels more slowly in colder air. This page uses the standard sea-level figure, 340.294 m/s, so Mach 1 here is about 1225 km/h. At the altitude airliners cruise at, the air is some 50 degrees colder and the same Mach 1 is roughly a tenth slower. An aircraft can therefore hold a constant Mach number while its speed over the ground changes.
Why do ships and aircraft use knots rather than km/h?
Because a nautical mile is one minute of arc of latitude. A vessel making one knot covers one minute of latitude in an hour, so speed, time and position on a chart fit together without conversion. The same reasoning kept the nautical mile at exactly 1852 metres rather than rounding it to something tidier.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
Feet per second in a metric world: physics classes, sports data and space reports
American physics textbooks, sports analytics, driving manuals and decades of NASA documents state speed in feet per second. The rest of science, and most of the world, uses metres per second. If you have a number such as 88 ft/s and need it in SI units, the job is a single multiplication. To convert ft/s to m/s, multiply by 0.3048: 100 ft/s is 30.48 m/s, 250 ft/s is 76.2 m/s and 1,000 ft/s is 304.8 m/s. The calculator above does the arithmetic as you type, and the sections below show what the numbers mean for a falling stone, a tennis serve, a car and a spacecraft.
The page gives the rule with worked examples, a profile of each unit, a comparison and many cases from daily life, followed by common mistakes. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. For engineering or safety work, check against the original standard.
How to convert ft/s to m/s: multiply by 0.3048
The rule
An international foot is exactly 0.3048 metres by definition, so a foot per second is exactly 0.3048 m/s. To convert ft/s to m/s, multiply the number by 0.3048. That gives 8 ft/s as 2.44 m/s, 176 ft/s as 53.64 m/s and 36,000 ft/s as 10,973 m/s. To go the other way, multiply m/s by 3.2808.
Worked examples
A car travelling at 60 mph moves at 88 ft/s, which is 26.82 m/s. A tennis serve of 220 ft/s is 67.06 m/s. A skydiver in free fall reaches about 176 ft/s, or 53.64 m/s, and a spacecraft returning from the Moon at some 36,000 ft/s is travelling at nearly 11 km/s.
Why the factor is exact
Since the 1959 agreement between the English-speaking countries the foot has been defined as 0.3048 metres exactly. Nothing in the factor is rounded, so any difference between two answers comes from how many decimals you keep.
A quick sanity test
The answer in m/s is about one third of the number in ft/s. If a “convert ft/s to m/s” calculation gave a larger number than you started with, you applied the factor in the wrong direction.
The foot per second
The unit of American mechanics
The foot per second is the speed unit of the US customary and imperial systems when length is measured in feet and time in seconds. It is common in physics teaching, sports science, vehicle dynamics and the engineering reports of the space programme.
Where it appears
Textbooks, NASA archives, accident reconstruction, sports analytics and equipment specifications.
The metre per second
The SI unit of speed
The metre per second is the coherent SI unit of speed. Formulas for kinetic energy, drag and waves are written for it, and almost every scientific journal and national standard outside the United States uses it.
Where it appears
International physics, engineering standards, research papers and weather data.
Feet per second against metres per second
A foot per second is 0.3048 m/s, so the number in m/s is roughly a third of the number in ft/s. A speed of 300 ft/s is 91.4 m/s and one of 3,000 ft/s is 914 m/s. Both units describe the same motion, and only the size of the unit differs.
The conversion is exact, with no hidden rounding. The one trap is the direction: from ft/s to m/s the figure falls.
Where the conversion shows up
Driving and braking
American driving manuals often work in feet per second, since a car at 60 mph covers 88 feet each second. In 1.5 seconds of reaction time that is 132 feet, 40.2 metres, before the brakes are touched. Anyone comparing that with a European figure in m/s makes a “convert ft/s to m/s” calculation first.
Sports analytics
Tracking systems in baseball, tennis and golf record ball speed in mph, but research on the biomechanics of the throw or swing is usually in ft/s. A 100 mph pitch is 146.7 ft/s, which is 44.7 m/s. Papers meant for an international readership give the m/s value as well.
Space and aerospace archives
NASA reports from the 1960s through the 1980s are full of ft/s. Escape velocity at the Earth's surface appears as about 36,700 ft/s, which is 11,186 m/s. Low orbital speed is around 25,600 ft/s, or 7,800 m/s.
Gravity in two unit systems
The acceleration of gravity is 32.174 ft/s² in customary units and 9.807 m/s² in SI. A stone dropped from rest reaches 32.2 ft/s after one second, 64.3 ft/s after two and 96.5 ft/s after three. In m/s those are 9.81, 19.61 and 29.42. Multiply every ft/s figure by 0.3048 and you recover the SI line of the table.
Roller coasters
A coaster that reaches 128 mph moves at 187.7 ft/s, which is 57.2 m/s. Park brochures give mph, and international rankings use km/h, but a safety engineer reads the ride's data in m/s to work out forces on the train. The conversion is the first step in every analysis.
The mental shortcut
To convert ft/s to m/s in your head, divide by 3 and subtract 9 per cent of the result. For 300 ft/s: a third is 100, less 9 is 91, close to the exact 91.44. For 1,200 ft/s: 400 less 36 gives 364, against 365.76. Use the shortcut for a rough check only.
Spreadsheet formulas
To convert ft/s to m/s in a spreadsheet, place the ft/s figures in column A and type =A2*0.3048 in column B. For the reverse, =B2/0.3048. Add a column for kinetic energy with =0.5*mass*B2^2 and label every column with its unit so that nobody mistakes feet for metres.
Rounding and significant figures
When you convert ft/s to m/s, remember that a measurement of 305 ft/s with an uncertainty of 1 per cent should not turn into 92.964 m/s. Report 93 m/s. Keep the extra digits in intermediate steps, and round once at the end, particularly when the value will be squared in an energy formula.
Landmarks to memorise
To convert ft/s to m/s by eye, remember that 10 ft/s is 3 m/s. 30 ft/s is 9.1 m/s. 88 ft/s is 26.8 m/s. 100 ft/s is 30.5 m/s. 176 ft/s is 53.6 m/s. 1,000 ft/s is 304.8 m/s. These anchors let you place most figures in a textbook without a calculator.
Reference ladder
1 ft/s is 0.30 m/s. 5 ft/s is 1.52 m/s. 12 ft/s is 3.66 m/s. 25 ft/s is 7.62 m/s. 50 ft/s is 15.24 m/s. 220 ft/s is 67.06 m/s. 1,125 ft/s is 342.9 m/s. A ladder of this kind makes quick checking easy.
Checking by reversing
To check a “convert ft/s to m/s” calculation result, multiply the answer by 3.2808. If 88 ft/s became 26.82 m/s, then 26.82 times 3.2808 returns 88. A second check is the size: the figure in m/s should be a little under a third of the figure in ft/s.
Link to mph and km/h
One ft/s is 0.682 mph and 1.097 km/h. To go from mph to ft/s, multiply by 1.4667. So 60 mph is 88 ft/s, and 100 km/h is 91.1 ft/s. When a document mixes mph and ft/s, decide on one unit before starting any further calculation.
Stopping a car
A car at 88 ft/s that brakes at 15 ft/s² needs 258 feet to stop, which is 78.7 metres. The same car in SI units starts at 26.8 m/s and decelerates at 4.57 m/s² to give the same distance. The braking distance depends on the square of the speed, so errors in the conversion also grow quickly.
A worked example
A ball is thrown at 45 ft/s, which is 13.7 m/s, at an angle of 45 degrees. In SI units its range is v² / g = 13.72² / 9.81 = 19.2 metres, which is 63 feet. In customary units the formula gives 45² / 32.174 = 62.9 feet. The two answers coincide, which shows that a “convert ft/s to m/s” calculation and the reverse conversion agree.
Falling from a height
An object that falls for 3 seconds without air resistance drops 144.8 feet, which is 44.1 metres, and arrives at 96.5 ft/s, or 29.4 m/s. A drop from 10 feet, a little over 3 metres, ends at 25.4 ft/s, 7.7 m/s. These values are why a fall from a low ladder is more dangerous than people expect.
The speed of sound
Sound travels in air at about 1,125 ft/s at 20 degrees Celsius, which is 342.9 m/s. At 15 degrees the speed is 1,116 ft/s, 340.3 m/s. A thunderclap 5,280 feet away, one mile, takes about 4.7 seconds to arrive. The old rule of counting five seconds per mile follows from these numbers.
Walking and running
An average walker moves at 4.4 ft/s, 1.34 m/s, a jogger at 8.8 ft/s, 2.68 m/s, and a good sprinter reaches 36 ft/s, 11 m/s. Treadmill readouts in the United States show mph, while research on gait is reported in m/s. Convert to m/s if you want to compare studies from different countries.
Shot put and javelin
A shot leaves the hand of an elite thrower at around 45 ft/s, 13.7 m/s, and a javelin at about 100 ft/s, 30.5 m/s. The dimensions of the implements and the length of the throw are metric in international competition, so American coaches who study world-record data translate their ft/s measures to compare with them.
Conveyors and machinery
Belt speeds on industrial conveyors are listed in feet per minute in US catalogues. A belt at 300 ft/min moves at 5 ft/s, which is 1.52 m/s. Dividing by 60 turns ft/min into ft/s, and then the factor 0.3048 gives m/s. Two steps are needed, and a slip in either one multiplies the error.
Rope, cable and winch speeds
A winch that pays out a rope at 50 ft/s drops a load at 15.2 m/s, which is easily enough to damage it on arrival. Rigging tables give line speeds in ft/s and safe working loads in pounds, so cable and crane designers in other countries convert both before using them.
Speed cameras and units
A speed enforcement camera measures the time a vehicle takes to cross a known distance in feet. If a car crosses 40 feet in 0.4 seconds, it moves at 100 ft/s, which is 68 mph and 109.7 km/h. The same calculation in SI units uses metres and gives 30.48 m/s. The vehicle does not care which unit the officer prefers.
Wind and water in feet per second
Older American hydraulics handbooks quote channel speeds of 2 to 10 ft/s, which is 0.61 to 3.05 m/s. A grass-lined channel survives at 4 to 5 ft/s, 1.2 to 1.5 m/s, but erodes beyond that. Anyone adapting a design from such a handbook should convert limits before checking them against a local code.
Aircraft in feet per second
Older flight-test reports give take-off and landing speeds in ft/s. An airliner rotating at 180 knots moves at 304 ft/s, which is 92.6 m/s. Pilots use knots, but the data on distance, acceleration and runway use ft/s and ft/s², so reconstructing an old test means converting back and forth.
Fire-code walking speeds
American fire protection standards model people walking in crowds at about 4 ft/s, 1.22 m/s, and free walking at 5 ft/s, 1.52 m/s. On stairs the speed falls to around 2 ft/s, 0.61 m/s. Designers of exit routes in other countries use the same figures in m/s, so a “convert ft/s to m/s” calculation lets the two engineering cultures compare plans.
The 1959 definition
Before 1959 the foot differed slightly between countries. The international agreement fixed it at 0.3048 metres exactly, ending small discrepancies in precision work. Every conversion on this page rests on that single definition, so you can trust that the factor will not change from one source to another.
Terminal velocity
A skydiver in a belly-to-earth position stops accelerating at about 176 ft/s, which is 120 mph and 53.6 m/s. In a head-down position the speed may reach 250 ft/s, 76 m/s. A sensible parachute pack opens well below those speeds, and the drag force on the canopy is calculated in SI units for European certification.
Mistakes in online shopping
On American retail sites the speed of an item, such as a toy launcher, may be listed in ft/s, while the description for a European customer says m/s or km/h. Before you convert ft/s to m/s, note that a listing of 350 could mean 350 ft/s, which is 106.7 m/s, or 350 km/h, which is 97.2 m/s. Always look at the unit before comparing products.
A sense of scale
At 1 ft/s an object moves about the length of a shoe each second. At 10 ft/s it covers the length of a car in a second and a half. At 100 ft/s, 30.5 m/s, it crosses a football pitch in about 3.5 seconds, and at 1,000 ft/s, 304.8 m/s, it covers the same pitch in a third of a second.
The Stratos jump
In 2012 a jumper from the stratosphere exceeded the speed of sound in free fall, reaching about 1,357 km/h. That is 377 m/s, or 1,237 ft/s. At that altitude the air is thin, so the sound speed is lower than at sea level, and the milestone of Mach 1 was passed at a lower number than 1,125 ft/s.
Returning from the Moon
An Apollo capsule reached the top of the atmosphere at about 36,000 ft/s, nearly 24,600 mph, or 10,973 m/s. The heat shield had to absorb the kinetic energy of a vehicle moving at more than thirty times the speed of sound. NASA mission reports quote the figure in ft/s, while European historians of spaceflight use m/s.
Escape and orbital speed
Orbital speed at low altitude is close to 25,600 ft/s, which is 7,800 m/s. Escape speed is 36,700 ft/s, or 11,186 m/s. The ratio between the two is the square root of two, 1.414. If you convert both with the same factor, the ratio stays unchanged, which is a handy check.
Tennis serves
A professional serve of 150 mph covers the court in less than half a second. In feet per second it is 220, and in metres per second 67.1. The distance from baseline to baseline is 78 feet, 23.8 metres, so the ball takes about 0.35 seconds to arrive. Coaches work in mph, physicists in m/s.
Golf ball speed
Ball speed off a professional driver is about 170 mph. That is 249 ft/s, or 76 m/s. Launch monitors display mph, but equipment tests for conformance use metric units in some countries. The energy delivered to a 45.9 gram ball at that speed is about 133 J.
The football pass
A quarterback throws at around 55 mph, which is 80.7 ft/s and 24.6 m/s. Over a 40-yard pass, 120 feet, the ball is in the air for about 1.5 seconds. Coaches and scouts speak of mph and yards, while a biomechanics lab publishes the data in m/s.
More values for convert ft/s to m/s
A longer list of conversions
If the value you need is not in the first list, these further conversions may be close enough to read off directly:
- 0.1 ft/s = 0.03048 m/s
- 0.5 ft/s = 0.1524 m/s
- 3 ft/s = 0.9144 m/s
- 4 ft/s = 1.2192 m/s
- 7 ft/s = 2.1336 m/s
- 15 ft/s = 4.572 m/s
- 20 ft/s = 6.096 m/s
- 75 ft/s = 22.86 m/s
- 200 ft/s = 60.96 m/s
- 500 ft/s = 152.4 m/s
- 2,000 ft/s = 609.6 m/s
- 10,000 ft/s = 3,048 m/s
Common slips when you convert ft/s to m/s
Multiplying by 3.2808
From ft/s to m/s the number falls. If 88 ft/s turned into 289, you used the factor for the other direction.
Mixing up ft/s and mph
One ft/s is 0.682 mph, not one mile per hour. Treating them as equal makes the speed almost 47 per cent too high.
Rounding too early
If the value is squared later in an energy formula, round only at the end.
Short answers
How do I convert ft/s to m/s?
Multiply the ft/s figure by 0.3048.
How many m/s is 100 ft/s?
30.48 m/s.
How many m/s is 88 ft/s?
26.82 m/s.
How many ft/s is 1 m/s?
3.281 ft/s.
Does my number leave my device?
No, the calculation runs in your browser.
More pages and a wrap-up
For other speed conversions see Convert ft/s to km/h, Convert ft/s to mph, Convert Mach to m/s, Convert knots to m/s, Convert m/s to c, Convert km to mi, Convert mi to km, Convert °C to °F, Convert °F to °C. The reverse direction is Convert m/s to ft/s.
In short, a “convert ft/s to m/s” calculation comes down to multiplying by 0.3048 and writing the unit beside the answer. Your number is computed locally, with no account and no upload.