Cubic feet to Liters Converter
Convert Cubic feet (ft³) to Liters (L) instantly, or use the conversion table below to look up common values.
Cubic feet to Liters conversion table
| Cubic feet (ft³) | Liters (L) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 28.316847 |
| 2 | 56.633693 |
| 3 | 84.95054 |
| 4 | 113.267386 |
| 5 | 141.584233 |
| 10 | 283.168466 |
| 25 | 707.921165 |
| 50 | 1,415.84233 |
| 100 | 2,831.684659 |
How to convert Cubic feet to Liters
1 ft³ equals 28.316847 L. Use the converter above for any value, or read the table for common conversions.
L = ft³ × 28.316846592 · ft³ = L × 0.035314666721488586Multiply a cubic feet figure by 28.316847 to get liters, or divide it by 0.035315 to go the other way.
Worked examples
- 1 ft³= 28.316847 L
- 2 ft³= 56.633693 L
- 5 ft³= 141.584233 L
- 10 ft³= 283.168466 L
- 20 ft³= 566.336932 L
What these units are
Cubic feet (ft³). A cubic foot is 28.316846592 liters, and the volume of a cube one foot on each side. It is used for gas meters, freight and the capacity of appliances and containers.
Liters (L). A liter is one thousandth of a cubic meter. It is the everyday metric unit for liquids — bottled water, fuel, milk and cooking oil.
US and imperial units are kept separate because they are genuinely different sizes. Confirm which system a source means before trusting a converted figure.
Converting Cubic feet to Liters in practice
Working in cubic feet
A cubic foot is the volume of a cube with edges one foot long, exactly 28.316846592 liters or 0.028316846592 cubic meters. It is a unit of volume, not of area.
Shipping containers, natural gas, water supply, refrigeration and timber are measured in cubic feet in the United States and parts of the freight trade. Appliance capacities also use it.
The cubic foot is defined through the foot, so its liter value is exact at 28.316846592. Only the displayed result is rounded, and a value taken to cubic meters and back may return with the final digit changed.
The error is confusing a cubic foot with a square foot or with a foot; volume needs three dimensions. Another is using the cubic foot where a liquid measure such as the liter or gallon is expected.
Cubic feet and cubic meters divide the same volume on different scales, and liters appear on appliance and gas labels. One cubic meter is about 35.3 cubic feet, so a figure copied between them without conversion is wrong by more than thirtyfold.
Reading the result in liters
The liter is exactly one cubic decimeter, or 0.001 cubic meters, and it equals 1,000 milliliters. It is accepted for use with the International System as a named unit of volume.
Fuel, bottled water, cooking oil, paint, milk and engine coolant are sold in liters in most countries, and vehicles quote fuel use in liters per 100 kilometers. Recipes use the unit as well.
A liter is exactly 0.001 cubic meters by definition, so the liter to milliliter and liter to cubic meter conversions are exact. Rounded display means a liter value converted to gallons and back may not return identically.
The judgement call is which gallon: this site uses the US gallon of exactly 3.785411784 liters, not the imperial gallon of 4.54609 liters. Mixing the two understates or overstates a fuel or water volume by roughly twenty percent.
Liters and milliliters differ by a thousand and share the metric scale, while the US gallon is a separate unit near 3.79 liters. Fuel and drinks are sold in those measures, so a metric recipe written in US cups or fluid ounces needs converting first.
Checking a cubic feet to liters conversion
The metric volume units are a clean decimal chain around the liter, so liters to milliliters is a shift of three places and cubic meters to liters is a shift of three the other way. Those pairs a reader can do without a converter.
Every pair that names a US or imperial liquid unit has to go through the definition first, because three of these units differ from a metric unit by amounts too large to round away: a liter is not a quart, a gallon is 3.785411784 liters in the US system and 4.54609 in the imperial one, and a US fluid ounce is not an imperial fluid ounce.
When checking a volume conversion, convert into liters and out again, or measure the container. The mistake that survives every other check is reading a US measure as the imperial unit of the same name, which changes a recipe, a fuel figure or a tank size by about a fifth.
Tanzania reference points
Real quantities, converted into the units on this page.
The 20-litre bucket or canister used to carry water in Tanzania
20 L = 0.706293 ft³
WaterAid puts the minimum daily water need per person at 20 litres, so one container is roughly one person's daily requirement.
Source: IPS News — water access in Tanzania, citing WaterAid · verified 2026-09-14
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