Convert m to ft metres ↔ feet Free Online Secure
Type a value in metres and read it in feet at once. The factor is exact by definition, the arithmetic happens in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
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Common values — Convert m to ft (metres ↔ feet)
| m | ft |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3.28083989501 |
| 2 | 6.56167979003 |
| 3 | 9.84251968504 |
| 5 | 16.4041994751 |
| 10 | 32.8083989501 |
| 20 | 65.6167979003 |
| 50 | 164.041994751 |
| 100 | 328.083989501 |
Where these units come from
The metre was first defined in 1793 as a ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole — a definition nobody could check without surveying a quarter of the planet. It has been redefined four times since, each time to something steadier: a platinum bar, then a prototype kept in Paris, then a wavelength of krypton light, and since 1983 the distance light travels in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. The inch stopped being a separate thing in 1959, when six countries agreed to define it as exactly 25.4 mm. That agreement is why every conversion on this page between a metric and an imperial length is exact rather than measured: both sides now descend from the same definition.
Where you meet them
Millimetres are the working unit of engineering drawings and of anything made in a workshop; centimetres belong to tailoring, furniture and school rulers; metres to rooms, fabric and running tracks. Feet and inches survive in aviation altitudes worldwide, in American and British construction, and in the diagonal of every screen you have ever bought. Nautical miles are not a quaint survival — one is a minute of latitude, which is why ships and aircraft still navigate in them.
Questions people ask
How is the metre defined today?
As the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. The definition has been in place since 1983 and ties the metre to the speed of light, which is itself fixed at exactly 299,792,458 metres per second. The old platinum bar in Paris no longer defines anything.
Why are aircraft altitudes given in feet?
Because international aviation standardised on feet decades ago and has never had a reason to change. Flight levels are altitudes in hundreds of feet, so level 350 is 35,000 feet. A foot is exactly 0.3048 metres, so converting is exact; a few countries, such as China and Russia, have used metres instead, which is why pilots must know both.
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.
From metric rooms to American listings: how to convert m to ft
Anyone who has looked at a flat for rent in New York, a boat for sale in Florida or a mountain on a US trail map has met the foot. The room is 12 by 14, the clearance is 13 feet 6, the peak is 14,000. Meanwhile your own sense of size is built on metres: your height, the ceiling of your flat, the length of your car. To make the American numbers mean something you need to convert m to ft, and this page does it as you type. Enter metres and read feet, as a decimal and as feet and inches.
The foot is exactly 0.3048 metres, so a metre is 3.280840 feet. The factor is not tidy, which is why a few shortcuts are worth learning. In the sections below you will find the rule, worked examples, short profiles of both units, a comparison, a tour of the places where the conversion appears and the usual mistakes.
How to convert m to ft: multiply by 3.2808
The exact rule
One metre is 3.280840 feet, the reciprocal of 0.3048. To convert m to ft, multiply the number of metres by 3.280840, or divide by 0.3048. 1 m is 3.28 ft, 2 m is 6.56 ft, 5 m is 16.40 ft, 10 m is 32.81 ft and 100 m is 328.08 ft. Going the other way, multiply feet by 0.3048.
Examples
A ceiling 2.5 m high is 8.20 ft. A man 1.80 m tall is 5.906 ft, which is 5 ft 10.9 in. A car 4.6 m long is 15.09 ft. A pool of 25 m is 82.02 ft. A mountain of 3,000 m is 9,842 ft. A building of 150 m is 492 ft.
Feet and inches
Americans usually say feet and inches. To get them, take the whole part of the decimal as feet and multiply the fraction by 12 for inches. 1.80 m is 5.906 ft; 0.906 times 12 is 10.87, so 5 ft 10.9 in. A table is 0.75 m, 2.46 ft, 2 ft 5.5 in.
The mental shortcut
For a mental convert m to ft, multiply by 3 and add 10 per cent of the result. For 10 m: 30 plus 3 is 33, near the exact 32.8. For 50 m: 150 plus 15 is 165, against 164.0. The method is accurate to about half a per cent.
The metre
Base unit
The metre is the SI base unit of length. It was proposed in 1791 and has been defined since 1983 as the distance light travels in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. It is used for rooms, roads, sports tracks, building heights and, with prefixes, almost everything else.
Feel for the size
One metre is about a long stride, the height of a kitchen counter, or a door handle to the floor. People of average height are about 1.7 m.
The foot
Origin
The foot was originally the length of a human foot, different in every town. In 1959 the English-speaking countries agreed on exactly 0.3048 m. It is divided into 12 inches and three feet make a yard.
Use today
It remains the everyday length unit in the United States for height, rooms, lumber and real estate, and worldwide for aircraft altitude. Britain uses it for personal height beside metric units.
Metre and foot compared
A metre is a little over three feet, 3.28 to be precise, so a number in feet is about three and a quarter times a number in metres. A person who is 1.75 m tall is 5.74 ft; a 3 m room is almost 10 ft wide.
The foot divides into 12 inches, the metre into 100 centimetres, so the subdivisions think differently. When you write for an international audience, give the main figure in the reader's own unit and add the other in brackets, such as 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in).
Where you will need it
Real estate
US listings give rooms in feet: a living room 18 by 14 ft is 5.49 by 4.27 m, 23.4 square metres. Ceilings of 9 ft are 2.74 m. If you are comparing with a European flat, convert m to ft for the whole plan before judging whether it feels large.
Travel and heights
Mountain guides in the Alps and in America give heights in different units. Mont Blanc, 4,808 m, is 15,774 ft. Mount Whitney, 14,505 ft, is 4,421 m. The Statue of Liberty from base to torch is 93 m, 305 ft.
Boats and vehicles
A sailboat of 10 m is 32.8 ft, which US marinas round up to a 33 ft berth. A lorry of 12 m is 39.4 ft. A car parked in a space 5 m long needs 16.4 ft. Fees in dollars per foot make a quick convert m to ft essential before reserving a berth.
Sport
A 100 m sprint is 328 ft. A basketball hoop at 3.05 m is exactly 10 ft. A pole vault of 6.2 m is 20.3 ft. Records in field events are given in metres internationally, but US commentators often convert for the audience.
Skyscrapers and landmarks
Famous heights
The Eiffel Tower is 330 m, 1,083 ft. The Empire State Building to its roof is 381 m, 1,250 ft. Burj Khalifa is 828 m, 2,717 ft. The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest is 84 m high, 276 ft.
Why numbers differ
Heights are quoted to the roof, to the spire or to the antenna. The same building can have several correct figures. When you convert m to ft for a comparison, say which measure you are using.
History of the two units
Two traditions
The foot comes from the ancient practice of measuring with the body. The metre was created in revolutionary France as a rational, earth-based unit. The two systems lived side by side for two centuries and came to a precise understanding only in 1959, when the foot was defined in metres.
The United States and the metric system
The US legalised the metric system in 1866 and signed the Metre Convention in 1875, but never made it the compulsory everyday system. Science and the military use metric, and consumers use feet.
Ladders, ropes and hoses
Standard lengths
A ladder of 3 m is 9.84 ft and reaches a wall of 8 ft with a margin. A rope of 10 m is 32.8 ft. Garden hoses of 15 m are 49.2 ft and 30 m are 98.4 ft, close to the standard 50 and 100 ft.
Safety margins
A ladder should be set at a quarter of its working height away from the wall. For a wall of 3 m, 9.84 ft, that means the base 0.75 m, 2.46 ft, away. Convert both to the unit on the ladder label.
A worked example
Buying a rug
A room is 3.6 m by 4.2 m and you want a rug 0.5 m smaller on each side. The rug should be 3.1 by 3.7 m. Online US shops list sizes in feet: 8 by 10 is 2.44 by 3.05 m, 9 by 12 is 2.74 by 3.66 m. Run the “convert m to ft” calculation step for your target: 10.2 by 12.1 ft. The closest standard size is 10 by 13 or 9 by 12.
Decision
The 9 by 12 rug is slightly smaller than planned, 2.74 by 3.66 m, so it leaves 0.43 m of floor all round the width and 0.27 m at the ends. The 10 by 13 is 3.05 by 3.96 m and leaves 0.28 and 0.12 m. Choose by the style you prefer.
Shipping containers and trailers
Standard sizes
A shipping container is sold as 20 ft or 40 ft long. In metres the nominal lengths are 6.1 and 12.2 m, and a high-cube container is 2.9 m, 9 ft 6 in, tall. A lorry trailer of 13.6 m, the European standard, is 44.6 ft, a little shorter than the American 53 ft trailer, 16.2 m. If you plan to ship goods from Europe to the United States, run a “convert m to ft” calculation on the box dimensions first.
Packing a pallet
A euro pallet is 1.2 by 0.8 m, 3.94 by 2.62 ft. A US pallet is 48 by 40 in, 1.22 by 1.02 m. The two do not pack the same way: a 40 ft container takes 23 euro pallets in two rows, but only 20 US pallets.
Trees, falls and other wonders
Natural records
The tallest known tree, a coast redwood called Hyperion, is about 115.9 m tall, 380 ft. Niagara Falls drops 51 m, 167 ft; Victoria Falls 108 m, 354 ft; Angel Falls 979 m, 3,212 ft. A tourist leaflet in one unit and a guidebook in the other can look contradictory until you convert m to ft.
Everyday trees
A mature oak is 25 m, 82 ft. A garden apple tree is 4 m, 13 ft. A hedge cut to 1.8 m is 5.9 ft, just under the limit that many neighbourhood rules set at 6 ft.
One more check before you trust the figure
Round trip
After you have converted, multiply the feet by 0.3048 and see whether you return to the metres you started with. If you do not, a digit has slipped. This takes a few seconds and is the single best habit for anyone who handles measurements across two systems. It also helps to keep the original figure beside the converted one in your notes, so that a question later can be answered by looking at both.
Aviation and altitude
Flight levels
Pilots speak of flight level 350, which is 35,000 ft, 10,668 m. A small plane at 3,000 m flies at 9,843 ft. Mountain passes in the Alps are 2,000 to 3,000 m, so a pilot must know them in feet.
Why feet in the sky
Aviation adopted feet early and the rest of the world followed for consistency. Metres are used only in a few countries. A pilot of a metric country keeps a conversion table for the rare case.
Running tracks and fields
Standard dimensions
A 400 m track is 1,312 ft. A 200 m lap is 656 ft. A football pitch of 105 by 68 m is 344 by 223 ft. An American football field is 100 yards between goal lines, 91.4 m, so it is shorter than a European pitch.
Jumps and throws
A long jump of 8 m is 26.2 ft. A high jump of 2.3 m is 7.5 ft. A javelin throw of 90 m is 295 ft. These records are quoted in metres at international meetings.
Lumber, pipes and building
Materials
American lumber is sold in feet: 8, 10, 12 and 16 ft, which are 2.44, 3.05, 3.66 and 4.88 m. A European plan calling for 3 m boards needs a conversion: 9.84 ft, so a 10 ft board must be trimmed by 4.8 cm.
Mixing standards
If you combine metric and imperial components, check each fitting. A wall of 2.4 m is 7.87 ft, not quite 8 ft, so a standard drywall sheet of 8 ft leaves a gap of 3.7 cm.
Furniture and homes
Room planning
A bedroom of 3.5 m by 4 m is 11.5 by 13.1 ft. A king bed is 6.33 by 6.67 ft, 1.93 by 2.03 m. Across the 3.5 m width the bed leaves 1.57 m, 5.2 ft, to spare.
Doors and windows
An interior door of 2.03 m is 6 ft 8 in. A window of 1.2 by 1.5 m is 3.94 by 4.92 ft. These heights matter when you buy imported fittings.
Hiking and elevation
Trail guides
American trails list elevation gain in feet. A climb of 600 m is 1,969 ft, a solid day hike. If your watch shows metres, convert before comparing. An 1,800 ft climb is 549 m.
Altitude sickness
Mild symptoms begin around 2,500 m, 8,200 ft. Guides advise a rise of no more than 300 to 500 m, 1,000 to 1,640 ft, in sleeping altitude a day above that.
Spreadsheet formulas
Formula
To convert m to ft for a column, put metres in column A and enter =A2*3.280840 in column B. Format with two decimals. For feet and inches, enter =INT(B2) in column C and =(B2-C2)*12 in column D. To reverse, multiply by 0.3048.
Testing
Enter 1 and check for 3.280840. Enter 0.3048: you should get 1. If you see 3.3, the sheet rounds.
Rounding
Matching precision
If a ceiling is 2.5 m to the nearest 5 cm, 8.2 ft is enough; 8.202 ft is false precision. A person's height of 1.78 m is 5 ft 10 in, not 5.84 ft in conversation.
Fitting rules
When ordering materials that must fit, round up for lengths to be covered and down for spaces to be filled. A cabinet 2.43 m wide must go in a 2.44 m gap, 8.0 ft.
Teaching the conversion
A tape with two scales
To teach the “convert m to ft” calculation, use a tape that has feet and metres. Students measure the classroom and read both. They find that 3 m is about 9.84 ft, and see that the ratio is just over three.
Estimation exercise
Ask students to guess a length in feet, then in metres, then check. Their error is usually under 10 per cent when they use the multiply-by-three-and-add-ten-per-cent rule.
More values for convert m to ft
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 m = 0.328084 ft
- 0.5 m = 1.64042 ft
- 3 m = 9.84252 ft
- 4 m = 13.1234 ft
- 7 m = 22.9659 ft
- 15 m = 49.2126 ft
- 20 m = 65.6168 ft
- 75 m = 246.063 ft
- 200 m = 656.168 ft
- 500 m = 1,640.42 ft
- 2,000 m = 6,561.68 ft
- 10,000 m = 32,808.4 ft
Mistakes when you convert m to ft
Dividing instead of multiplying
A foot is shorter, so the number of feet is larger. If 10 m becomes 3.05, you divided.
Using 3 as the factor
Three is fine for a rough idea but gives a 9 per cent error. Use 3.28.
Decimal feet as inches
5.9 ft is not 5 ft 9 in. It is 5 ft 10.8 in.
Quick answers
How many feet in a metre?
3.2808.
How do I convert m to ft?
Multiply by 3.2808.
What is 2 m in feet?
6.56 ft, or 6 ft 6.7 in.
Is the conversion exact?
Yes, because the foot is defined as exactly 0.3048 m.
Does my number leave my device?
No. The calculation runs in your browser.
Related pages and a last word
If you work with lengths, these conversions are close at hand: Convert m to nm, Convert m to dm, Convert mi to ft, Convert dm to ft, Convert ft to in, Convert °C to °F, Convert °F to °C, Convert L to gal, Convert gal to L. The reverse of this page is Convert ft to m.
In short, to convert m to ft multiply by 3.28, check with the multiply-by-three-and-add-a-tenth rule, and keep only the digits your measurement supports. Your number stays on your device: nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.