Conversion of Volume

If you want a quick conversion, try our Conversion Charts, but if you want a deeper understanding, read on ....

Volume is Length by Width by Height

First, you should understand Conversion of Length. If you are comfortable converting miles to kilometres, etc, then you are half way there.

To convert Volume, simply remember that volume is length by width by depth:

Volume = Length × Width × Depth

So, you need to convert once for the length and once again for the width and once more for the depth. It is that easy:

Just do the length conversion three times.

Example 1

Convert 1 cubic yard into cubic feet.

Now, we know that three feet make a yard:

1 yd = 3 ft

So, the Length conversion is "multiply by 3".

And so the Volume Conversion must be to multiply by 3 and multiply by 3 again and then multiply by 3 once again (ie once each for length, width and height)

Result is 3 × 3 × 3 = 27. There are 27 square feet in a sqare yard.

Try to count the 1 ft cubes below, and you will see why:

Example 2

Convert 30 cubic feet into cubic meters (30 ft³ to m³)

The conversion for feet to meters is:

1 ft = 0.3048 m

So, the length conversion is to multiply by 0.3048

And the Volume Conversion must be to multiply by 0.3048, and multiply by 0.3048 and multiply by 0.3048 again:

30 × 0.3048 × 0.3048 × 0.3048 = 0.85

So, 30 ft³ = 0.85 m³