Length converter: meters, feet, inches and miles
A screen may be listed in inches, a person’s height in feet and inches, and a road distance in miles. Convert length below using the meter as the reference unit.
Key conversion values
- 1 inch = 2.54 cm exactly.
- 1 international foot = 0.3048 m exactly (12 inches).
- 1 yard = 0.9144 m exactly (3 feet).
- 1 international mile = 1,609.344 m exactly (5,280 feet).
Frequently asked questions
What does a TV screen size in inches measure?
It is the diagonal of the display, not its width. A 55-inch screen has a 139.7 cm diagonal. For a 16:9 screen, the width is about 121.8 cm; the exact width depends on the aspect ratio and bezel. Measure the furniture by width, not by the advertised diagonal.
How do I read a height such as 6 ft 2 in?
It means 6 feet plus 2 inches: (6 × 30.48) + (2 × 2.54) = 187.96 cm. This converter handles one unit at a time, so convert the feet and inches separately and add the results.
Are a land mile and a nautical mile the same?
No. An international land mile is 1,609.344 m; an international nautical mile is exactly 1,852 m. The nautical mile is not included in the selector, so do not choose “mile” when you mean nautical mile.
Why length units vary
The meter is the SI base unit of length. Its definition is based on the fixed speed of light in vacuum: one meter is the distance light travels in vacuum during 1/299,792,458 of a second. Inch and foot values used here follow the international definitions of exactly 25.4 mm per inch and 0.3048 m per foot.
Choose precision for the task
The result is rounded for display, while the calculation uses the conversion factors in the script. Keep more digits for technical comparisons and use the precision required by the original measurement. A conversion cannot make an approximate measurement more accurate.
Units matter in technical work
In 1999, NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter was lost after a navigation error involving a failure to translate English units to metric units. The example is a reminder to confirm both the unit and the system expected by a file, instrument or workflow before using a converted value.
Reference sources
Related tools
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