Cleaning Measurement Converter.

Convert volume, weight, area, temperature, dilution and coverage. Fractions work, every equivalent shows at once, and a unit that means two different sizes gets a question rather than a guess.

What are you converting?

Spoons, cups, ounces, pints, quarts, gallons and litres. US and Imperial units of the same name are different sizes, so both are listed separately.

Amount

Fractions and mixed numbers work — 1 1/2, 3/4, ½. A unit typed here wins over the one selected.

Unit

US and Imperial units of the same name are listed separately, because they are different sizes.

The answer updates as you type. There is nothing to submit.

Which unit is meant?

"cups" names more than one unit, and they are different sizes. Showing the US cup.

US cup: 236.6 ml. A metric cup is 250 ml.
metric cup: Exactly 250 ml. A US cup is 236.6 ml.

Converted

1.5 US cups

Read "1 1/2" as 1.5. 236.6 ml. A metric cup is 250 ml.

metric cups: ~1.4195 cup (metric)
millilitres: ~354.88 ml
litres: ~0.35488 L

Every equivalentThe whole family at once, so there is no target unit to pick. Units of the same name from different systems are listed separately.
Unit	Amount
millilitresMetric · ml	~354.88
litresMetric · L	~0.35488
metric teaspoonsMetric · tsp (metric)	~70.976
metric tablespoonsMetric · tbsp (metric)	~23.659
metric cupsMetric · cup (metric)Exactly 250 ml. A US cup is 236.6 ml.	~1.4195
US teaspoonsUS customary · tsp	72
US tablespoonsUS customary · tbsp	24
US fluid ouncesUS customary · fl oz	12
US cupsUS customary · cup · as entered236.6 ml. A metric cup is 250 ml.	1.5
US pintsUS customary · pt	0.75
US quartsUS customary · qt	0.375
US gallonsUS customary · gal	0.09375
Imperial fluid ouncesImperial (UK) · fl oz (imp)	~12.49
Imperial pintsImperial (UK) · pt (imp)	~0.62451
Imperial quartsImperial (UK) · qt (imp)	~0.31225
Imperial gallonsImperial (UK) · gal (imp)	~0.078063
Australian tablespoonsAustralian · tbsp (AU)	~17.744

A tilde marks a figure shown rounded to five significant figures. Anything without one is stated exactly.

Rounding: Every conversion is computed at full double precision from the exact legal definitions, then displayed to five significant figures with trailing zeros dropped. Whole-number results are shown in full rather than shortened. A value that had to be rounded to fit is marked with a leading tilde; a value with no tilde is stated exactly.
Precision of the input: The conversion factors are exact definitions, so the only imprecision in a result is the imprecision of the number typed in. A measurement taken to the nearest cup does not become accurate to five figures because this page prints five figures.
US gallon: Exactly 231 cubic inches, which is 3.785411784 litres. The US quart, pint, cup, fluid ounce, tablespoon and teaspoon are fixed fractions of it: a quarter, an eighth, a sixteenth, a 128th, a 256th and a 768th.Source: NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C (General Tables of Units of Measurement); the inch is exactly 0.0254 m under the 1959 international yard and pound agreement.
Imperial gallon: Exactly 4.54609 litres, divided into 160 Imperial fluid ounces rather than 128. It is about 20.1% larger than a US gallon, and an Imperial pint holds 20 Imperial fluid ounces where a US pint holds 16 US fluid ounces.Source: UK Weights and Measures Act 1985, Schedule 1.
Pound and ounce: One pound is exactly 453.59237 grams, and one ounce is a sixteenth of that: 28.349523125 grams.Source: 1959 international yard and pound agreement; NIST Special Publication 811.
Foot, inch and yard: One inch is exactly 0.0254 metres, one foot exactly 0.3048 metres and one yard exactly 0.9144 metres. The square units are those figures squared, so one square metre is 10.7639 square feet and one square yard is exactly 9 square feet.Source: 1959 international yard and pound agreement; NIST Special Publication 811.
Metric spoon and cup: A metric teaspoon is exactly 5 ml, a metric tablespoon exactly 15 ml and a metric cup exactly 250 ml. An Australian tablespoon is 20 ml — four teaspoons rather than three — and is the one metric spoon that is not interchangeable with the others.Source: National metric conventions; Australian National Measurement Regulations.
Temperature: Celsius and Fahrenheit are related by F = C x 9/5 + 32. That is an offset scale, not a ratio scale, so a temperature cannot be converted by multiplying alone and 20 °C is not twice 10 °C. Nothing below absolute zero (−273.15 °C, −459.67 °F) is accepted.Source: NIST Special Publication 811, Appendix B.
Dilution ratio: A ratio reads as parts of concentrate to parts of WATER, so 1:32 is one part concentrate stirred into thirty-two parts water and yields thirty-three parts of solution. Both that reading and the finished-volume reading are shown, because labels use both and rarely say which.
What this page does not do: It converts units. It does not know what is being measured, so it will not convert a volume into a weight — that needs the density of the specific substance, which differs for every product and is not something a converter can assume.

Measures you meet on a bottle

The ones that catch people out, and why. None of this is specific to any product or brand.

A gallon is two different sizes

A US gallon is 3.785411784 litres. An Imperial gallon, still in use in the UK and several Commonwealth countries, is 4.54609 litres. The Imperial one is about 20.1% larger, so a mix measured against the wrong gallon comes out roughly a fifth stronger or a fifth weaker than intended.

The fluid ounces differ too, and in the opposite direction: a US fluid ounce is 29.5735 ml and an Imperial fluid ounce is 28.4131 ml, about 4% smaller. They are not simply proportional because a US gallon divides into 128 fluid ounces and an Imperial gallon into 160.

That is why nothing here is labelled as a plain "gallon", "quart", "pint" or "fluid ounce". Typing an unqualified unit word produces a question, not a guess.

NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C — General Tables of Units of Measurement

A "capful" is not a unit of measurement

No weights-and-measures standard defines a capful. Cap volume is chosen by whoever designed the bottle, and it varies between products, between bottle sizes of the same product, and between a cap made for dosing and a cap that is only a closure.

Dosing caps usually carry moulded fill lines part-way up, so a cap filled to the brim can hold several times the intended dose. Where a cap is meant to measure, the label states what the lines stand for.

The reliable move is to fill the cap once, tip it into a marked measuring jug and read the actual volume. After that the cap is a known measure and converts like any other.

ppm means two different things, and the difference matters

On this page ppm means parts of concentrate per million parts of finished mix, by volume. It is the dilution written on a millionths scale: 1:32 is 30,303 ppm of concentrate.

A sanitiser or disinfectant label means something else by ppm. It states the concentration of the ACTIVE INGREDIENT, by mass, in the finished solution. A concentrate that is itself only a few percent active ingredient produces an active-ingredient ppm far below its dilution ppm, so the two figures are not interchangeable and neither converts into the other without knowing the strength and density of that specific product.

Where a label states a required ppm and a contact time, the label is the legal instruction for that product and is the figure to work to.

US EPA — Six Steps to Safe and Effective Disinfectant Use

An ounce and a fluid ounce are not the same measurement

An ounce is a weight: 28.349523125 grams. A fluid ounce is a volume: 29.5735 ml in the US system. They share a name and nothing else, which is why typing a bare "oz" here produces a question rather than an answer.

Converting between the two needs the density of the specific substance. Powders vary enormously — the same scoop of a dense powder and a fluffy one can differ by more than a factor of two — so a converter that offers to turn ounces of powder into fluid ounces is guessing. This one does not offer it.

Where a recipe gives a powder by volume, the safest reading is that whoever wrote it measured with a spoon rather than a scale.

NIST Special Publication 811 — Guide for the Use of the International System of Units

Fractions are read as typed

Domestic measuring is done in fractions, so "1 1/2 cups", "3/4 tsp" and "1/2 gallon" are read as written. Unicode fractions such as ½ and ¾ work too.

A comma is read as a thousands separator, so "1,500 ml" is fifteen hundred millilitres. A comma used as a decimal point is refused rather than assumed, because "1,5" means one and a half in some countries and fifteen hundred in others.

Care labels state temperature in Celsius

The wash-tub symbol on a care label carries a number in Celsius, or a count of dots that stands for one. The ISO 3758 ladder runs 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 95 °C — one dot for 30 and six for 95.

A machine sold with a Fahrenheit dial rarely has a setting at the exact equivalent of every rung, so a care-label temperature is normally read as a ceiling rather than a target.

ISO 3758 — Textiles, care labelling code using symbols

Common questions

How many ounces are in a gallon?

A US gallon holds 128 US fluid ounces. An Imperial gallon holds 160 Imperial fluid ounces, which works out at 153.72 US fluid ounces, because an Imperial fluid ounce is the smaller of the two. There is no single answer without saying which gallon and which ounce are meant.

What is a 1:32 dilution in ounces per gallon?

A 1:32 dilution is one part concentrate to thirty-two parts water, which is 4 US fluid ounces of concentrate into one US gallon of water. That produces 132 fluid ounces of solution. Read the other way — as a finished gallon that already contains the concentrate — it is 3.88 US fluid ounces. The same mix is 3.03% concentrate, or 30,303 ppm by volume.

Is a US gallon the same as an Imperial gallon?

No. A US gallon is 3.785411784 litres and an Imperial gallon is 4.54609 litres, so the Imperial gallon is about 20.1% larger. A concentrate measured against the wrong gallon leaves the solution roughly a fifth stronger or weaker than intended.

How many millilitres are in a teaspoon?

A US teaspoon is 4.9289 ml and a metric teaspoon is exactly 5 ml. The difference is small enough to ignore for most household purposes, but it compounds: a US tablespoon is 14.787 ml against a metric 15 ml, and an Australian tablespoon is 20 ml, which is four teaspoons rather than three.

How many square feet are in a square metre?

One square metre is 10.7639 square feet, because a metre is 3.28084 feet and the conversion is squared. One square yard is exactly 9 square feet.

How much is a capful?

There is no standard. Cap volume is set by whoever designed the bottle and differs between products and between bottle sizes of the same product. Dosing caps usually carry moulded fill lines part-way up, so a cap filled to the brim can be several times the intended dose. Measuring one cap into a marked jug turns it into a known volume.

What does ppm mean on a dilution?

Parts per million. As a dilution figure it means parts of concentrate per million parts of finished mix, so 1:32 is 30,303 ppm. A sanitiser label means something different by ppm: the concentration of the active ingredient by mass in the finished solution. The two are not interchangeable, because a concentrate is not pure active ingredient.

Can ounces be converted to fluid ounces?

Not without knowing the density of the substance. An ounce is a weight and a fluid ounce is a volume; they share a name only. Water happens to be close — one US fluid ounce of it weighs about 1.04 ounces — but powders and thick liquids are not, and the error can exceed a factor of two.

Other tools

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