# Length Converter - Feet, Inches, Centimetres, Metres, Kilometres and Miles

Page: https://hirantha.me/tools/length-converter
Part of: Hirantha Sandaruwan Lakshan free tools (https://hirantha.me/tools)
Updated: 2026-10-13

Convert millimetres, centimetres, metres, kilometres, inches, feet, yards, miles and nautical miles exactly, with a feet and inches to cm helper for heights.

This is a free tool that runs in the browser: open the page to use it. File tools process files on the visitor's own device; files are never uploaded or stored. No account, sign-up, payment or watermark.

Type a length, choose the unit you have and the unit you want, and the answer appears at once with the factor written out in words. The converter covers micrometres to kilometres, inches, feet, yards, miles, nautical miles and the land-survey rod, chain and furlong. Every factor is exact, so 1 inch is 25.4 mm and 1 mile is 1.609344 km with no rounding on the way. A helper turns a height such as 5 ft 7 in into centimetres (170.18 cm) and back.

Each unit is stored as an exact fraction of a metre, and a conversion multiplies by the size of the unit you have and divides by the size of the unit you want. This is done with whole-number arithmetic, not floating point, so nothing drifts and a conversion followed by its reverse gives back the number you typed. The answer is rounded only when it is shown. The Auto setting shows an exact answer in full when it fits in 14 digits and otherwise rounds to 10 significant digits, and you can pick 4, 6, 8 or 12 digits instead.

The inch-based units come from the 1959 international yard and pound agreement. An inch is exactly 25.4 mm, so a foot (12 inches) is exactly 0.3048 m, a yard (3 feet) is 0.9144 m and a mile (1,760 yards) is 1,609.344 m. NIST Handbook 44, NIST SP 811 and the UK Weights and Measures Act 1985 all give these values. The older US survey foot (1200/3937 m) is about 2 parts per million longer, which is 2 mm in a kilometre. NIST asks people to stop using it from 1 January 2023, and this page does not use it. The nautical mile is exactly 1,852 m.

The rod (also called a pole or a perch), the chain and the furlong are land-surveying lengths. A rod is 16.5 feet, a chain is 66 feet (4 rods) and a furlong is 660 feet (10 chains). Square one rod and you get the perch used to measure land in Sri Lanka, which the area converter covers.

To change a height from feet and inches to centimetres, turn it all into inches (feet x 12 + inches) and multiply by 2.54. To go the other way, divide the centimetres by 2.54 and split the inches into whole feet and a remainder. The helper under the converter does both and shows the remainder in inches rounded to one decimal place. It is handy for forms that ask for your height in centimetres.

Heights from 4 ft 10 in to 6 ft 4 in in centimetres:
| Height | Total inches | Centimetres |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 4 ft 10 in | 58 | 147.32 cm |
| 4 ft 11 in | 59 | 149.86 cm |
| 5 ft 0 in | 60 | 152.4 cm |
| 5 ft 1 in | 61 | 154.94 cm |
| 5 ft 2 in | 62 | 157.48 cm |
| 5 ft 3 in | 63 | 160.02 cm |
| 5 ft 4 in | 64 | 162.56 cm |
| 5 ft 5 in | 65 | 165.1 cm |
| 5 ft 6 in | 66 | 167.64 cm |
| 5 ft 7 in | 67 | 170.18 cm |
| 5 ft 8 in | 68 | 172.72 cm |
| 5 ft 9 in | 69 | 175.26 cm |
| 5 ft 10 in | 70 | 177.8 cm |
| 5 ft 11 in | 71 | 180.34 cm |
| 6 ft 0 in | 72 | 182.88 cm |
| 6 ft 1 in | 73 | 185.42 cm |
| 6 ft 2 in | 74 | 187.96 cm |
| 6 ft 3 in | 75 | 190.5 cm |
| 6 ft 4 in | 76 | 193.04 cm |

Q: How many centimetres are in a foot?
A: Exactly 30.48. One inch is exactly 2.54 cm and a foot has 12 inches, so 5 feet is 152.4 cm and 6 feet is 182.88 cm.

Q: How do I convert feet and inches to cm?
A: Multiply the feet by 12, add the inches, then multiply by 2.54. For 5 ft 7 in that is 5 x 12 + 7 = 67 inches, and 67 x 2.54 = 170.18 cm. The feet and inches helper under the converter does this for you, and the table above lists every height from 4 ft 10 in to 6 ft 4 in.

Q: How many kilometres are in a mile?
A: Exactly 1.609344. So 5 miles is 8.04672 km, and 100 km is 62.13711922 miles to 10 significant digits. Quick sums often use 1.609 or 1.61, which are rounded.

Q: Is a nautical mile the same as a mile?
A: No. A nautical mile is exactly 1,852 m and is used at sea and in the air. An ordinary statute mile is 1,609.344 m, so a nautical mile is about 1.1508 statute miles (1.150779448).

Q: Why does this page use the international foot and not the US survey foot?
A: Since 1959 the foot has been exactly 0.3048 m in everyday and legal use. The US survey foot (1200/3937 m) was kept for surveying and is about 2 mm longer per kilometre. NIST asks people to stop using it from 1 January 2023, except for old survey records, so the international foot is the right choice for new work.

Q: What is a rod, pole or perch?
A: A length of 16.5 feet, which is exactly 5.0292 m or a quarter of a chain. A square with sides of one rod has an area of 272.25 square feet, and that area is the perch used to measure land in Sri Lanka. See the area converter for perches, roods and acres.

Q: Are the answers rounded?
A: Only when they are shown. The arithmetic itself is exact, so 1 inch is 25.4 mm with nothing lost. The Auto digits setting shows an exact result in full when it fits in 14 digits, and otherwise rounds to 10 significant digits. The line under the result says whether the figure shown is exact or rounded.

Sources: NIST Handbook 44 (2026 edition), Appendix C, General Tables of Units of Measurement (exact inch, foot, yard, mile, rod, chain, furlong, square perch, acre, cup, tablespoon, teaspoon, US gallon, pound, carat, troy ounce, nautical mile), checked 2026-10-13 (https://www.nist.gov/document/2026-nist-handbook-44-appendix-c-word); NIST Special Publication 811 (2008), Appendix B.8, factors for units listed alphabetically (exact foot, inch, yard, mile, nautical mile, carat, grain, hectare, imperial gallon and the temperature formulas), checked 2026-10-13 (https://www.nist.gov/pml/special-publication-811/nist-guide-si-appendix-b-conversion-factors/nist-guide-si-appendix-b8); Weights and Measures Act 1985, Schedule 1 (yard, mile, acre, rood, stone, pound, imperial gallon and fluid ounce definitions, as revised and current on 5 October 2026; the page flags that Schedule 1 is due to be omitted by the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 from a day to be appointed, so the page may change), legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-10-13 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/schedule/1); NIST, the U.S. survey foot (retired from 1 January 2023; 1 foot = 0.3048 m exactly, 1 survey foot = 1200/3937 m), checked 2026-10-13 (https://www.nist.gov/pml/us-surveyfoot)

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