About

Volumetric conversion errors between imperial and metric systems cost industries millions annually in material overordering, shipping surcharges, and compliance failures. The relationship between cubic feet and cubic meters derives from the international yard agreement of 1959, which fixed 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly. Cubing this yields the exact factor: 1 ft³ = 0.028316846592 m³. This converter applies that NIST-traceable constant with no rounding until final display. Note: this tool assumes geometric volume. It does not account for compressibility, temperature-dependent expansion, or packing factors relevant to granular materials.

Formulas

The conversion between cubic feet and cubic meters is a direct linear scaling derived from the definition of the international foot.

V_m³ = V_ft³ × 0.028316846592

The inverse conversion is:

V_ft³ = V_m³ × 35.314666721

This factor is derived from cubing the linear definition:

1 ft = 0.3048 m ⇒ 1 ft³ = 0.3048³ m³ = 0.028316846592 m³

Where V_m³ is volume in cubic meters, V_ft³ is volume in cubic feet. The conversion factor 0.028316846592 is exact per NIST Special Publication 811 and the international yard and pound agreement of 1959. No rounding is introduced in the constant itself.

Reference Data

Cubic Feet (ft³)	Cubic Meters (m³)	Liters (L)	US Gallons (gal)	Common Reference
0.01	0.000283	0.283	0.0748	Small shipping box
0.1	0.002832	2.832	0.748	Shoebox volume
1	0.02832	28.317	7.481	Basketball volume
3	0.08495	84.951	22.44	Small suitcase
5	0.14158	141.58	37.40	Mini refrigerator interior
10	0.28317	283.17	74.81	Standard moving box
25	0.70792	707.92	187.0	Dishwasher interior
35.31	1.0000	1000.0	264.2	Exactly 1 cubic meter
50	1.4158	1415.8	374.0	Large chest freezer
100	2.8317	2831.7	748.1	Hot tub capacity
200	5.6634	5663.4	1496	Small shipping container
500	14.158	14158	3740	Standard room volume
1000	28.317	28317	7481	Small swimming pool
1150	32.564	32564	8603	20-ft shipping container
2350	66.545	66545	17581	40-ft shipping container
5000	141.58	141584	37403	Large warehouse bay
10000	283.17	283168	74805	Olympic pool (~2500 m³)
35315	1000.0	1000000	264172	Exactly 1000 cubic meters
100000	2831.7	2831685	748052	Large industrial tank
1000000	28317	28316847	7480519	Small lake volume segment

Frequently Asked Questions

The 1959 international yard and pound agreement defined 1 yard = 0.9144 m exactly, making 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly. Cubing this: 0.3048³ = 0.028316846592. This is a terminating decimal with no irrational component. Every digit is exact.

The US survey foot defined 1 ft = 12003937 m (≈ 0.30480061 m). This produces a cubic foot of 0.02831698 m³, a difference of about 2 ppm per cubic foot. The US survey foot was deprecated on January 1, 2023 (Federal Register 85 FR 33681). This tool uses the international foot exclusively.

JavaScript uses IEEE 754 double-precision, providing about 15 - 17 significant digits. For this conversion, errors become detectable past 10¹² ft³ (trillions), where the least significant displayed digit may be off by 1. For all practical engineering and shipping volumes (up to millions of ft³), results are exact to at least 10 significant figures.

Multiply CFM by 0.028316846592 to get m³/min, then multiply by 60 to get m³/hr. Equivalently: Q (m³/hr) = Q (CFM) × 1.699011. This converter handles static volume only. For flow rates, apply the time factor separately.

No. The conversion is purely geometric (length cubed). Temperature and pressure affect the amount of substance occupying a given volume (via the ideal gas law PV = nRT), but the spatial unit relationship is fixed. If you need to compare gas volumes at different conditions, convert to standard temperature and pressure (STP: 0 °C, 101.325 kPa) first, then apply this converter.

1 m³ = 1000 L = 1,000,000 cm³ (or mL). So 1 ft³ = 28.3168 L = 28316.8 cm³. These relationships are exact by definition of SI prefixes.