What this calculator does
Change feet into meters, or meters into feet, exactly. Americans use feet for rooms, ceilings, lumber and how high planes fly. The meter is the metric (SI) unit of length, officially defined using the speed of light. It's how most of the rest of the world measures the same things. Architects, pilots, divers and anyone reading a floor plan from another country end up switching between the two.
Since 1959, the international foot has been exactly 0.3048 meters. So feet to meters is an exact multiplication, and meters to feet divides by 0.3048. Choose a direction and enter a value. The calculator shows the number it multiplied or divided by.
Where it's used
Why this math matters outside the classroom:
- Aviation. Pilots compare a cruising altitude of 35,000 ft with about 10,668 m on metric charts.
- Mountain heights. A summit sign giving 14,000 ft corresponds to about 4,267 m.
- Pool depth. Pool owners marking depth in both units label a 6 ft deep end as about 1.83 m.
- Room dimensions. A 12 ft wall is 3.6576 m long, which helps when ordering metric shelving.
- Sports. A regulation 10 ft basketball rim sits 3.048 m above the floor.
Grade level and standards: Grades 5–6; Common Core State Standards for Mathematics 6.RP.A.3.d. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
How to use it
- Enter the length in decimal feet or in meters. For 8 ft 6 in, enter 8.5.
- Select feet → meters or meters → feet.
- Read the result and check the steps. The table shows other common lengths.
What the inputs mean
- Value to convert
- A length in feet (ft → m) or meters (m → ft). Enter feet as a decimal, not as feet and inches.
- Direction
- The unit you're converting from. The table below switches to match.
Formula and method
m = ft × 0.3048 ft = m ÷ 0.3048 ≈ m × 3.28083989501
In the formulas, m is meters and ft is feet. One foot is 12 inches of 2.54 cm each, which makes 30.48 cm, or 0.3048 m. That value is exact by international agreement.
Going the other way, one meter is 3.2808398950… feet, and those digits never end. So the calculator divides by 0.3048 instead, which keeps the answer as exact as the computer can make it.
Worked example
A 10-foot ceiling: how high is it in meters?
- Multiply by the exact factor: 10 × 0.3048.
- 10 × 0.3048 = 3.048.
Result: A 10 ft ceiling is 3.048 m high.
Understanding the result
A shortcut you can do in your head for m to ft: multiply by 3 and add 10%. For 3 m, that gives 9.9 ft, against the exact 9.84 ft, about 0.6% high. For ft to m, divide by 3 and take away 10%. So 30 ft → 10 − 1 = 9 m, where the exact answer is 9.144 m.
Some handy reference points: 1 m is about 3 ft 3.37 in. A standard 8 ft US ceiling is 2.4384 m. Mount Everest's commonly quoted height of 8,848.86 m works out to about 29,031.7 ft. Planes cruise around 35,000 ft, which is 10,668 m.
Watch out: decimal feet are not feet and inches. 5.6 ft is 5 ft 7.2 in, not 5 ft 6 in. Turn inches into part of a foot (divide by 12) before you enter them.
Assumptions and limitations
- The foot is the international foot, 0.3048 m exactly.
- Values are plain lengths, not areas (square feet) or volumes (cubic feet).
- Older US land surveys may use the US survey foot (1200/3937 m), which is about 2 parts per million longer. It was retired at the end of 2022, but it still appears in old records. The difference matters only over long survey distances.
- Square feet to square meters needs the factor squared (multiplied by itself). See the square-feet page.
Frequently asked questions
How many feet are in a meter?
About 3.28084 ft. The exact value is 1 ÷ 0.3048 = 3.2808398950… ft.
How do I convert feet and inches to meters?
Turn the inches into a fraction of a foot first. 6 ft 2 in is 6 + 2/12 = 6.1667 ft, which is 1.8796 m.
Why do pilots still use feet?
Feet have long been the international standard for altitude in aviation. So most air traffic control uses feet, even in metric countries. A few regions use meters, which is why flight charts include altitude conversion tables.
How this calculator is checked
Method: International yard and pound agreement (1959): 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly. The calculation is covered by automated tests with known reference values and edge cases. Last updated 2026-10-18. Found a problem? Tell us.
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