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Feet to Metres
To convert feet to metres, multiply by 0.3048, because a foot is exactly 0.3048 m. 8 feet × 0.3048 = 2.4384 m, about 2.44 m. Feet and inches convert the same way once the inches are turned into a fraction of a foot: 5 ft 6 in is 5.5 ft, or 1.6764 m.
Type feet, or feet and inches.
| Shown as | Value |
|---|---|
| Metres | 2.44 m |
| Centimetres | 243.84 cm |
| Millimetres | 2,438.4 mm |
| Feet and inches | 8 ft 0 in |
| Yards | 2.67 yd |
| If these were US survey feet (retired 2023) | 0.005 mm longer |
The figures above are an example: put in your own. Feet and inches work too: 5' 6", 5 ft 6 in or 5 6. Worked out in this browser and kept there; nothing is sent anywhere.
Type feet as a number, or feet and inches as 5' 6", and read metres, centimetres and millimetres. The last row shows what the same figure would have been in US survey feet, the foot NIST retired in 2023.
Feet to metres is a multiplication by 0.3048, the international foot, exact since 1959. Since 1 January 2023 it is the only foot in US use; the survey foot is for legacy data.
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Key facts
| Detail | Answer |
|---|---|
| Formula | metres = feet × 0.3048 |
| Example | 8 ft = 2.4384 m |
| 1 foot | 0.3048 m exactly (international foot) |
| US survey foot | 1200/3937 m; obsolete since 1 January 2023 |
| Square feet | Use 0.09290304, not 0.3048 |
| Where your numbers are kept | This browser only |
How to convert feet and inches to metres
Make it one number in feet, then multiply.
Turn inches into feet
Divide by 12: 6 in is 0.5 ft.
Add the whole feet
5 ft 6 in is 5.5 ft.
Multiply by 0.3048
5.5 × 0.3048 = 1.6764 m.
Round for the job
To a centimetre: 1.68 m.
For an area, square the factor
Square feet × 0.09290304 = square metres.
Who converts feet to metres
People with a measurement in feet who need it in metric.
Home buyers and renters
US room sizes and ceiling heights in metres.
Pilots and flight followers
Cruising altitude in metres.
Surveyors
Old survey-foot records against the international foot.
Hikers and climbers
Peak heights on US maps in metres.
Boat owners
Lengths in feet for a marina that charges by the metre.
Students
Physics problems set in feet, answered in SI units.
The US survey foot, retired in 2023: what it changes
Until the end of 2022 the United States had two feet. The international foot, exactly 0.3048 m, was used for nearly everything after 1959. The US survey foot, exactly 1200/3937 m (about 0.3048006 m), was kept for land surveying and mapping so that old records would not change. NIST deemed the survey foot obsolete from 1 January 2023: after that date “foot” means the international foot, and the survey foot is to be used only for historic and legacy data.
| Length in feet | International feet, in metres | US survey feet, in metres | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| One foot | 0.3048 m | 0.3048006096… m | 0.001 mm |
| A 100 ft lot frontage | 30.48 m | 30.4800609601… m | 0.061 mm |
| A mile | 1,609.344 m | 1,609.3472186944… m | 3.219 mm |
| A 100,000 ft line | 30,480 m | 30,480.0609601219… m | 60.96 mm |
| A coordinate of 1,000,000 ft | 304,800 m | 304,800.6096012192… m | 0.61 m (2 ft) |
So, what changes? For a room, a house or a running track, nothing you can measure: the two feet differ by two parts in a million, about 0.01 ft in a mile, as the Federal Register notice of 5 October 2020 puts it. What changes is large coordinates. US State Plane coordinates are often millions of feet from their origin, and at a million feet the two definitions are 0.61 m, two feet, apart. A surveyor mixing an old survey-foot coordinate with a new international-foot one gets a point two feet out. The same notice gives both values for the derived units: the acre differs by only about 25 square inches, and the statute mile, 5,280 feet, is 1,609.344 m by the international foot and 1,609.347 m by the survey foot.
This converter uses the international foot, as NIST now requires. Its last row shows how much longer the same number of survey feet would have been, so you can tell at a glance whether an old document’s choice of foot could matter for your figure.
Square feet are not feet
Feet to metres is the conversion people reach for when what they actually have is an area, and the answer comes out wrong by a factor of three. A room 12 ft by 12 ft is 3.6576 m by 3.6576 m, which is 13.38 m². Converting its 144 square feet with the length factor 0.3048 gives 43.89, which is not a floor area of anything.
| You have | Multiply by | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feet (a length) | 0.3048 | 12 ft | 3.6576 m |
| Square feet (an area) | 0.09290304 (0.3048²) | 144 ft² | 13.3780 m² |
| Cubic feet (a volume) | 0.028316846592 (0.3048³) | 100 ft³ | 2.8317 m³ |
| Square feet, wrongly with 0.3048 | 0.3048 | 144 ft² | 43.89: wrong by 3.28 times |
Convert each side first and multiply in metres, or multiply the square feet by 0.09290304. This converter handles lengths only; for a floor plan, convert both walls here and multiply. For people per square foot or metre at an event, the occupancy calculator works in either.
Where feet are still the unit
Feet stay in use in a few fields worldwide, even in countries that are otherwise metric, which is why this conversion is searched far beyond the United States.
| Field | In feet | In metres |
|---|---|---|
| Aircraft altitude | 35,000 ft (flight level 350) | 10,668 m |
| US and UK ceiling height | 8 ft | 2.4384 m |
| Mount Everest (2020 survey: 8,848.86 m) | 29,031.69 ft | 8,848.86 m |
| Boat length | 30 ft | 9.144 m |
| US building lot frontage | 50 ft | 15.24 m |
| A mile | 5,280 ft | 1,609.344 m |
Aviation is the largest: altitude is given in feet in most of the world’s airspace, so a pilot’s “flight level 350” is 35,000 feet, exactly 10,668 m. Mountain heights are published in metres by most survey agencies and converted for US readers, which is where a figure like 29,032 feet for Everest comes from.
| Feet | Metres, exactly | Metres, 2 places |
|---|---|---|
| 1 ft | 0.3048 m | 0.3 m |
| 2 ft | 0.6096 m | 0.61 m |
| 3 ft | 0.9144 m | 0.91 m |
| 5 ft | 1.524 m | 1.52 m |
| 6 ft | 1.8288 m | 1.83 m |
| 7 ft | 2.1336 m | 2.13 m |
| 8 ft | 2.4384 m | 2.44 m |
| 9 ft | 2.7432 m | 2.74 m |
| 10 ft | 3.048 m | 3.05 m |
| 12 ft | 3.6576 m | 3.66 m |
| 15 ft | 4.572 m | 4.57 m |
| 20 ft | 6.096 m | 6.1 m |
| 25 ft | 7.62 m | 7.62 m |
| 50 ft | 15.24 m | 15.24 m |
| 100 ft | 30.48 m | 30.48 m |
| 500 ft | 152.4 m | 152.4 m |
| 1,000 ft | 304.8 m | 304.8 m |
| 5,280 ft | 1,609.344 m | 1,609.34 m |
| 10,000 ft | 3,048 m | 3,048 m |
| 35,000 ft | 10,668 m | 10,668 m |
What this converter does not do
This converts feet to metres using the international foot. It does not convert areas or volumes; see above for the squared factor. For a person’s height, the height converter rounds to the inch and gives centimetres; for any other pair, the length converter. Feet and inches are accepted as 5′ 6″, 5 ft 6 in or 5 6; inches must be under 12. A decimal such as 5.5 is read as decimal feet, and the converter says what it is in feet and inches.
This converter or a plain one
What this page adds to a typical one-formula converter.
| This converter | A typical converter | |
|---|---|---|
| Feet and inches | 5' 6" typed as written | Two boxes or decimal feet only |
| Decimal feet | 5.5 ft explained as 5 ft 6 in | Not explained |
| US survey foot | Difference shown, 2023 change explained | Not mentioned, or an old factor |
| Areas | Squared factor explained | Same factor misapplied |
| Your entries leave the browser | Never | Varies |
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Frequently asked questions
How many metres is 8 feet?
8 feet is exactly 2.4384 metres, about 2.44 m. It is the usual ceiling height in American homes. A British or Australian ceiling of 2.4 m is 7 ft 10.5 in, about an inch and a half lower.
How do you convert feet to metres?
Multiply the feet by 0.3048. 10 feet × 0.3048 = 3.048 m. If you have feet and inches, divide the inches by 12 and add them to the feet first: 6 ft 3 in is 6.25 ft, which is 1.905 m. For a rough figure, multiply by 0.3; it is 1.6% low.
What happened to the US survey foot?
NIST and NOAA retired it: from 1 January 2023 the US survey foot, 1200/3937 m, is obsolete and “foot” means the international foot of 0.3048 m, except for historic and legacy data. The two differ by two parts in a million, which matters only for very long distances and large map coordinates.
Does the survey foot change how long a mile is?
Barely. A mile of 5,280 international feet is 1,609.344 m; the same number of survey feet was 1,609.347 m, about 3.2 mm longer. The Federal Register notice of 2020 lists both and says survey-foot values should be avoided after 2022 except for legacy work.
How many square metres is 100 square feet?
100 square feet is 9.290304 square metres. The area factor is the length factor squared, 0.3048 × 0.3048 = 0.09290304. Using 0.3048 on an area gives 30.48, more than three times too much, which is the most common mistake with feet and metres.
How many metres is 35,000 feet?
35,000 feet is exactly 10,668 metres. It is a typical cruising altitude for airliners, given as flight level 350. Altitude is measured in feet in most of the world’s airspace, so this is one of the most converted figures in the unit.
Is 5.5 feet the same as 5 feet 5 inches?
No. 5.5 feet is five and a half feet, and half a foot is 6 inches, so 5.5 ft is 5 ft 6 in, or 1.6764 m. The decimal part is a fraction of a foot, not inches. Type 5.5 into the converter and it says what it is in feet and inches.
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