Convert qt to gal US quarts ↔ US gallons Free Online Secure
Type a value in US quarts and read it in US gallons 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 qt to gal (US quarts ↔ US gallons)
| qt | gal |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.25 |
| 2 | 0.5 |
| 3 | 0.75 |
| 5 | 1.25 |
| 10 | 2.5 |
| 20 | 5 |
| 50 | 12.5 |
| 100 | 25 |
Where these units come from
The litre has an awkward history. From 1901 it was defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water at its densest, which sounds elegant but came out at 1.000028 cubic decimetres — close enough to be confusing and far enough to spoil careful work. In 1964 the definition was abandoned and the litre became exactly one cubic decimetre, which it has been ever since. The gallon has a messier story still: the US gallon descends from the English wine gallon of 231 cubic inches, while Britain redefined its own in 1824 as the volume of ten pounds of water. Nobody reconciled the two, so a US gallon is 3.785411784 litres and an imperial gallon 4.54609 — about a fifth larger. The gallon, pint, cup, fluid ounce and spoons on this page are the US ones.
Where you meet them
Millilitres and litres run through daily life almost invisibly: bottles, fuel, paint, dosage, the capacity of a kettle. Cubic metres belong to water bills, concrete, shipping and the air a ventilation system has to move. Cubic centimetres name engine displacement, cubic feet appear in freight and in appliance capacities, and cups and spoons live almost entirely in recipes — which is exactly where the difference between a US cup and a metric one quietly ruins a cake.
Questions people ask
Is a quart really a quarter of a gallon?
Yes, the name says so: four quarts make a gallon. The US quart used here is 0.946352946 litres, a little less than a litre. The imperial quart is larger, 1.1365225 litres, because the imperial gallon is larger. A US quart is therefore worth about 83% of an imperial one.
Why is a US gallon smaller than a British one?
Because they were defined from different things and never reconciled. The US kept the old English wine gallon of 231 cubic inches, which gives 3.785411784 litres exactly. Britain started over in 1824 and defined the imperial gallon from the volume of ten pounds of water, now fixed at 4.54609 litres. The imperial gallon is therefore about 20% larger, and the same difference runs through the pint and the quart.
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.
Painting a room: from quarts to gallons of paint
A paint shop sells the same colour in half-pint tester pots, quarts and gallons, and the price per quart is always higher in the small can. A homeowner who wants to know how much to buy first works out the area of the walls, divides by what a can covers and ends up with a number of quarts or gallons. To convert qt to gal you divide by 4, since four quarts make a gallon. Seven quarts is 1.75 gallons, and 10 quarts is 2.5 gallons. This page divides as you type, and the text below follows a painting job from the first measurement to the last drip.
Ahead you will find the rule with examples, a note on each unit, a comparison, a walk through room painting and the slips to avoid. All arithmetic happens in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to convert qt to gal: divide by 4
The rule
A US gallon holds exactly 4 quarts. To convert qt to gal, divide the quarts by 4, or multiply by 0.25. So 4 qt is 1 gal, 6 qt is 1.5 gal, 7.3 qt is 1.83 gal and 20 qt is 5 gal. In the other direction, multiply gallons by 4.
Worked examples
A room of 12 by 14 feet with 8 foot walls has a perimeter of 52 feet and wall area of 416 square feet. After taking off a door and two windows, about 51 square feet, 365 remain. One coat needs 0.91 gallons, 3.6 quarts. Two coats need 1.8 gallons, 7.3 quarts.
Why not 2 or 8
A quart is half of a half-gallon and a quarter of a gallon. A pint is an eighth. If you divide quarts by 8 you get the answer in pint-eighths, half the true figure, and if you divide by 2, you get half-gallons. Four is the right divisor for gallons.
A quick sanity check
The gallon is the larger unit, so the number shrinks to a quarter. If your “convert qt to gal” calculation result is half the original, you divided by 2, and if it is an eighth, you divided by 8.
The quart
A quarter of a gallon
The US liquid quart is 0.946 litres. It is the usual small can of paint, stain or varnish, and covers about 100 square feet, enough for a ceiling or a small wall.
Where it appears
Paint cans, wood finishes, primers, oils and cleaning products.
The gallon
Four quarts
The US gallon is 3.785 litres and covers about 400 square feet of wall with one coat. It is the standard size for interior paint and the one on which coverage claims are based.
Where it appears
Paint, stain, sealer, roof coating and bulk liquids.
Quart and gallon compared
A gallon is four quarts, a quarter of the price per unit in the big can. A quart of paint might cost 20 dollars and a gallon 40, so four quarts cost twice as much as one gallon. That is why people who need more than a quart buy the gallon, and why they work in gallons when they plan the job.
The factor 4 is exact, so there is no rounding, but the volumes you need rarely come out whole, so round up to the next can you can buy.
Where the conversion appears
Walls and ceilings
The rule of thumb is a gallon for 350 to 400 square feet, a quart for 80 to 100. A ceiling of 12 by 14 feet, 168 square feet, needs 0.42 gallons, 1.7 quarts, per coat. Two coats call for 3.4 quarts. When you convert qt to gal, you can decide whether to buy a gallon and keep the rest for touch-ups.
Trim, doors and cabinets
Trim and doors are painted in smaller amounts: a standard door takes about a pint per side with two coats, and a kitchen's cabinets about a quart. A set of three doors and a window frame needs 2 quarts, 0.5 gallons. Specialist paints are sold in quarts and pints because they cost more and are used sparingly.
Exteriors and fences
A fence 100 feet long and 6 feet high has 600 square feet per side, 1,200 for both, so 3 gallons for a coat. The siding of a modest house may be 2,000 to 2,500 square feet, requiring 5 to 7 gallons. Exterior paint is sold by the gallon and by the 5 gallon pail, 20 quarts.
Working out the wall area
Multiply the perimeter of the room by the height. Subtract 21 square feet for each standard door and 15 for each average window. A room of 12 by 14 feet with 8 foot walls has 416 square feet, less 51, 365. Divide by 400 for gallons, 0.91, or by 100 for quarts, 3.65. The result is a minimum, so add 10 percent for waste, spills and texture.
A house exterior
A two-storey house with 2,400 square feet of siding needs 6 gallons per coat, 24 quarts, and two coats take 12 gallons. A 5 gallon pail costs less per gallon than gallon cans, so many painters buy two pails and a gallon. Total quarts are 48, but nobody buys that way. The conversion is mainly for checking that the order is right.
Spray painting and waste
Airless sprayers waste 10 to 30 percent more paint than rollers, because of overspray. A room needing 1.8 gallons by roller might need 2.3 by spray, 9.2 quarts. Painters allow for it when they order. Because sprayers also need thinning in some cases, check the label for the volume of additive per gallon, and measure accordingly.
Tinting and colour
At the paint counter, colourant is added by the ounce to a base. A quart takes about a quarter of the colourant for a gallon. If a formula calls for 4 ounces of colourant per gallon, a quart takes 1 ounce. The store mixes by the can size, so asking for four quarts of the same formula gives the same colour as a gallon, though batch variation may show.
Epoxy and special coatings
Epoxy floor kits are sold as one gallon, two quarts each of resin and hardener. Coverage of epoxy varies widely, from 100 to 250 square feet per gallon, so a garage floor of 200 square feet may need one to two gallons. Two part products are mixed in equal volumes, so 2 quarts plus 2 quarts, 1 gallon, is the usual kit. Exact ratios are on the label and must be followed.
Rooms in a house
A house with four bedrooms needs about 10 gallons of wall paint in all, 40 quarts, plus 2 gallons for ceilings and 2 quarts per room for trim. Painters price by the room, but the total volume is a number they tally before ordering. Whole-house painting of 3,000 square feet of wall space needs about 7.5 gallons per coat, 30 quarts.
In a spreadsheet
Put quarts in column A and use =A2/4 in column B. For the reverse, =B2*4. A column with =wall_area/400 gives gallons from area, and times 4 gives quarts. Add rows for each room. Format with one decimal place, and round up with =CEILING(B2,0.5) to the next half gallon.
Rounding
Dividing by 4 gives exact results, but you cannot buy 1.83 gallons, so round up to the next can. A need of 7.3 quarts becomes 2 gallons, or 1 gallon and 4 quarts. Rounding down risks running out in the middle of a wall, and matching a new batch to the old is hard. Always round up.
A mental shortcut
Divide quarts by 4 by halving twice. For 14 quarts, 7, then 3.5 gallons. For 30 quarts, 15, then 7.5. For 9 quarts, 4.5, then 2.25. Halving is easy to do on a ladder, and you can check the result against the cans in the cart.
Reference values
1 qt is 0.25 gal, 2 qt is 0.5 gal, 4 qt is 1 gal, 6 qt is 1.5 gal, 8 qt is 2 gal, 10 qt is 2.5 gal, 20 qt is 5 gal and 40 qt is 10 gal. If you convert qt to gal and land far from this ladder, repeat the division.
Checking by reversing
To make sure your “convert qt to gal” calculation result is right, multiply it by 4. If 7.3 qt gave 1.83 gal, then 1.83 times 4 returns 7.3. A second check is the size of the answer: it should be a quarter of the number of quarts. Compare also with the area: 365 square feet should give about 0.9 gallons per coat.
Two coats and primer
Most walls need two coats for even colour, and dark walls repainted in a light shade need primer first. A room with 365 square feet needs 730 square feet of coverage, 1.8 gallons, 7.3 quarts. A coat of primer adds 0.9 gallons. Buying 2 gallons of paint and 1 gallon of primer is a typical result, and each is easier to plan in gallons than in quarts.
Roof coatings and sealants
A gallon of roof coating covers 50 to 100 square feet in a thick layer, so a flat roof of 400 square feet needs 4 to 8 gallons, 16 to 32 quarts. These products are sold in gallons and 5 gallon pails. A quart is for patching. Roofers work in gallons and cannot afford to run short mid-job, so they round up and keep a quart for the repair of a small leak.
Cleaning solutions for painters
After a job, brushes and rollers are cleaned with water for latex or with spirits for oil-based paint. A quart of mineral spirits is enough for a few brushes, and a gallon for a larger project. Used solvent should be allowed to settle and disposed of according to local rules. When you convert qt to gal for the cleaning stock, a quart per 4 gallons of oil-based paint is a rough guide.
Painting kits and bulk orders
A contractor painting an apartment block orders in 5 gallon pails: 20 quarts each. A building with 30 units needs 90 gallons of wall paint, 360 quarts, or 18 pails. The tinted batch is mixed once to guarantee a uniform colour. The quart is irrelevant at this scale, but the same conversion lets a manager compare the price of pails with the price of gallon cans.
The price per quart and per gallon
If a quart costs 22 dollars and a gallon 45, the gallon is 11.25 dollars per quart, half the price of the small can. For 7 quarts of paint, buying 7 small cans costs 154, while 2 gallons cost 90. Shoppers compare unit prices, and the conversion shows that large cans save money once you need more than two quarts.
Tester pots and samples
A sample pot is often half a pint, 8 ounces, 237 ml, enough for about 12 square feet, or an eighth of a quart. A pint, two samples, covers about 50 square feet. Using samples to test a colour costs more per ounce, but avoids buying a gallon of the wrong shade. Converting the sample size to quarts or gallons shows how much you are paying for the test.
Stains and sealers for decks
Deck stain covers 200 to 300 square feet per gallon, less on rough wood. A deck of 12 by 16 feet, 192 square feet, needs about 0.8 gallons, 3.2 quarts, for one coat. Two coats call for 1.6 gallons. Stain is often sold by the quart for small jobs and by the gallon for decks, so a “convert qt to gal” calculation step helps pick the right can.
Floor finish
A quart of polyurethane covers about 100 to 125 square feet per coat. A room of 150 square feet needs a quart and a half per coat, 0.375 gallons, and three coats take 4.5 quarts, 1.1 gallons. Floor finishes cost more per quart than wall paint, so buying a gallon when you need more than 3 quarts is a saving.
Primer and sealers
A gallon of primer covers 300 to 400 square feet. A new drywall room of 365 square feet needs about a gallon, four quarts. A stain-blocking primer, sold in quarts at a higher price, covers a few patches, say 100 square feet. Tradespeople keep a quart on hand for water stains, and a gallon for whole-room priming.
Leftover paint
After a job there may be a quart left over from a gallon. Stored upside down in a closed can in a cool dry place, it keeps for years. Label the can with the room and the date. A quart is enough to touch up scuffs for decades, covering about 100 square feet, and it is the amount that most people should plan to keep.
Weight of paint
A gallon of interior latex paint weighs about 11 pounds, 5 kg, so a quart weighs 2.75 pounds, 1.25 kg. A 5 gallon pail is 55 pounds, 25 kg. When you convert qt to gal for a big job, the weight of the cans matters for carrying and for car loads: 3 gallons are 33 pounds, 12 quarts are the same weight in smaller cans.
More values for convert qt to gal
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 qt = 0.025 gal
- 0.5 qt = 0.125 gal
- 3 qt = 0.75 gal
- 4 qt = 1 gal
- 7 qt = 1.75 gal
- 15 qt = 3.75 gal
- 20 qt = 5 gal
- 75 qt = 18.75 gal
- 200 qt = 50 gal
- 500 qt = 125 gal
- 2,000 qt = 500 gal
- 10,000 qt = 2,500 gal
Mistakes when you convert qt to gal
Dividing by 2 or 8
A gallon has 4 quarts, 8 pints. Check which unit you are converting from.
Forgetting the second coat
Most rooms need two coats. Double the single coat figure before you buy.
Multiplying instead of dividing
The gallon is the larger unit, so the number shrinks. If 7.3 qt became 29, you multiplied.
Short answers
What is 1 quart in gallons?
0.25 gallons.
How do I convert qt to gal?
Divide by 4.
What is 1 gallon in quarts?
4 quarts.
What does 7.3 qt come to in gallons?
1.83 gallons.
Does the page send my figure anywhere?
No, everything happens in your browser.
Related tools and a final note
Other volume converters sit nearby: Convert qt to pt, Convert L to gal, Convert gal to L, Convert km to mi, Convert mi to km, Convert °C to °F, Convert °F to °C, Convert cm to in, Convert ha to m². To go the other way, use Convert gal to qt.
To recap: you convert qt to gal by dividing by 4 and you write the unit beside the result. Everything is computed locally, with no account and no upload.