Cubic Meters Calculator

1 cubic meter equals exactly 1,000 litres, approximately 35.315 cubic feet, 1.308 cubic yards, 61,024 cubic inches, 264.17 US gallons or 219.97 UK (imperial) gallons. For fresh water at 4 °C, 1 m³ weighs exactly 1,000 kg (1 tonne). Cubic meter is the SI base unit of volume — the official international standard used in scientific, engineering and most national-construction work outside the United States.

Measure the room length, width and height in meters and multiply them together: V = L × W × H. For a 4 m × 3 m room with a 2.5 m ceiling, the volume is 4 × 3 × 2.5 = 30 m³. If you measure in centimetres or millimetres, this calculator converts automatically — just pick your unit. For irregular rooms, split them into rectangular sections and add the results using the "Add Shape" feature.

A standard 20-ft (TEU) shipping container has an internal volume of approximately 33 m³ (1,170 ft³), while a 40-ft (FEU) container holds about 67 m³ (2,390 ft³). A 40-ft High Cube container reaches roughly 76 m³. These figures are the nominal interior capacity; usable cargo volume is typically 5–10 % less due to packing inefficiency, pallet footprints and load restraints.

For a rectangular pool, multiply length × width × average depth in meters. An 8 m × 4 m pool with a 1.5 m average depth holds 8 × 4 × 1.5 = 48 m³ = 48,000 litres of water. For pools with sloping floors, use the average of the shallow and deep end depths. Round pools use the cylinder formula: π × r² × depth.

Exactly 1,000 litres. The litre is defined as 1 cubic decimeter (1 dm³), and there are 1,000 dm³ in 1 m³. This makes m³-to-litre conversion the cleanest in the metric system: simply multiply by 1,000. So 2.5 m³ = 2,500 L, and 0.75 m³ = 750 L.

Multiply cubic meters by 35.3146667 to get cubic feet. For example, 10 m³ × 35.3147 = 353.15 ft³. Conversely, divide cubic feet by 35.3147 to get cubic meters. This calculator does the conversion automatically alongside every result, so you never need to do it by hand.

Exactly 1,000 kg (1 metric tonne) for pure fresh water at 4 °C — this is by definition. Saltwater is slightly heavier (about 1,025 kg/m³). Other common materials per m³: concrete ≈ 2,400 kg, dry sand ≈ 1,600 kg, gravel ≈ 1,500 kg, topsoil ≈ 1,300 kg, dry firewood ≈ 700 kg, snow ≈ 100–300 kg. Use the optional "weight per m³" field to estimate total mass for your material.

Calculate the volume of your slab, footing or column in m³, then add a 5–10 % waste allowance. Example: a 5 m × 4 m slab at 150 mm thick = 5 × 4 × 0.15 = 3 m³ → order 3.15–3.3 m³. Ready-mix concrete trucks in most countries (UK, EU, AU) deliver in m³ increments, with minimum loads typically 1 m³. Always round up to the nearest 0.25 m³ when ordering.

CBM stands for cubic meter — it is the standard volumetric unit for international freight, both sea and air. CBM = Length × Width × Height (all in meters). Sea freight is usually billed per CBM (or per tonne, whichever is greater). Air freight uses volumetric weight: CBM × 167 = chargeable kg. So 2 m³ of cargo = 334 chargeable kg for air, regardless of actual mass.

Cubic meter is the SI (International System of Units) unit of volume, adopted by every country in the world except the United States, Liberia and Myanmar for official measurement. The metric system simplifies conversions (1 m³ = 1,000 L = 1,000,000 mL) and aligns with global engineering, science, construction codes and freight standards. The UK officially adopted SI in the 1970s, Australia in 1974, India at independence — so m³ dominates worldwide construction, shipping and engineering documentation.

Yes — use the "Add Shape" button to break the irregular object into multiple regular shapes (boxes, cylinders, prisms, hemispheres) and the calculator sums them. For example, an L-shaped room becomes two boxes; a tank with a domed top becomes a cylinder plus a hemisphere; a swimming pool with a stepped shallow end becomes two boxes of different depths.

Mathematically exact to floating-point precision (15+ significant digits). All conversions use the official NIST/SI definitions: 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly, 1 in = 0.0254 m exactly, 1 US gallon = 3.785411784 L, 1 UK gallon = 4.54609 L. Display is rounded to 4 decimal places for readability but the underlying calculation is exact. For engineering work always include a safety/waste margin per local codes.