Length

Convert meters to feet

1 meter equals 3.2808399 feet. Enter a value below to convert instantly.

Metres to feet is the conversion of building plans, altitudes and sports distances. The factor is 3.28084 feet per metre, derived from the exact 0.3048 m foot — which means the awkward-looking decimal is a consequence of an exact definition, not an approximation.

1 m
3.2808399 ft

Multiply the number of meters by 3.28083989501 to get feet. How this is calculated

Copy link puts your number after the #, which browsers never send to a server — but the link itself carries it, so anyone you send it to sees the value. Save keeps the unit pair in this browser only; clear it any time from your saved list.

Need the other direction? Convert foot to meter →

Formula

Multiply the number of meters by 3.28083989501 to get feet.

Step by step

  1. Start with 1 m.
  2. Multiply by the conversion factor 3.28083989501.
  3. 1 × 3.28083989501 = 3.2808399 ft.

Meters to Feet conversion table

Conversion table from Meters to Feet
Meters (m) Feet (ft)
1 3.2808399
2 6.5616798
3 9.8425197
5 16.404199
10 32.808399
20 65.616798
50 164.04199
100 328.08399
500 1,640.4199
1,000 3,280.8399

Where meters and feet are used together

Building heights and floor plans

Ceiling heights, storey counts and room dimensions cross systems constantly on international projects. A 2.4 m ceiling is 7.87 feet — which is why US framing at 8 feet and metric framing at 2.4 m produce rooms that feel the same but are not identical.

Aviation altitude

Almost all civil aviation reports altitude in feet regardless of the country, while meteorology and terrain data are metric. Converting cloud bases and terrain elevations is routine flight preparation — and one of the few places where the two systems are used side by side by the same person.

Swimming, athletics and pitch sizes

Olympic pools are 50 m and US pools are often 25 yards; track events are metric while American football is measured in yards. Converting is how you compare a 25 m pool lap count against a 25 yd one — they differ by about 8%.

Property listings

Frontages, lot depths and setback requirements appear in feet in US listings and metres elsewhere. A 60-foot frontage is 18.29 m; rounding it to 18 m loses nearly a foot, which can matter against a zoning minimum.

Everyday meters worth knowing

Values people actually look up, with the reason each one comes up. Every figure is calculated with the same engine as the converter above.

Meter (m) Foot (ft) What it is
1 3.2808399 The base conversion
1.8 5.9055118 A tall adult's height
2.4 7.8740157 A standard ceiling height
10 32.808399 A three-storey building
25 82.020997 A short-course pool
50 164.04199 An Olympic pool
100 328.08399 A sprint distance
1,000 3,280.8399 One kilometre

How these two units are defined

The metre is an SI base unit, fixed by the speed of light. The international foot is defined as exactly 0.3048 metres. A second definition, the US survey foot, was very slightly longer (by about 2 parts per million) and was used for land surveying in the United States; NIST and NGS retired it at the end of 2022, so all new US work uses the international foot. The difference only matters over survey-scale distances — about 3 mm per kilometre — but it is real, and it is why old US land records and new ones can disagree fractionally.

Rounding and precision

For everyday work, 3.28 feet per metre is accurate to about 0.03% and is fine. For anything surveyed, use the full 3.280839895 or convert through the exact 0.3048 definition instead. Note also that feet are usually quoted with inches attached (6 ft 2 in), so the decimal part of a converted answer normally has to be multiplied by 12 before it means anything to a reader.

Mistakes people make with this conversion

  • Reading 5.9 feet as 5 feet 9 inches

    It is 5 feet 10.8 inches. The decimal part of a foot is tenths of a foot, not inches — multiply it by 12 to get inches.

  • Mixing survey feet with international feet

    Over a room it is invisible; over a kilometre it is about 3 mm; over a US state plane coordinate it is metres. If you are working with pre-2023 US survey data, check which foot it used.

  • Assuming a 100-metre and a 100-yard course are close

    100 m is 109.36 yards — nearly 10% longer. Race and pool times are not comparable across the two without conversion.

Read more about these units

Sources for this page

  1. Special Publication 811 — Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) NIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology) · Conversion factors between US customary and SI units, and the rounding and significant-figure conventions this site follows.
  2. Metric (SI) Program NIST Office of Weights and Measures · US metric usage, including the retirement of the US survey foot.

Content on this page last reviewed 12 August 2026. Spotted an error? Report it — see also how these values are calculated.

Convert Meter to other length units

1 m expressed in every other length unit on this site.

  • Kilometer km 0.001
  • Hectometer hm 0.01
  • Dekameter dam 0.1
  • Decimeter dm 10
  • Centimeter cm 100
  • Millimeter mm 1,000
  • Micrometer µm 1,000,000
  • Nanometer nm 1,000,000,000
  • Picometer pm 1,000,000,000,000
  • Femtometer fm 1,000,000,000,000,000
  • Attometer am 1e+18
  • Megameter Mm 0.000001
  • Gigameter Gm 1e-9
  • Terameter Tm 1e-12
  • Petameter Pm 1e-15
  • Exameter Em 1e-18
  • Angstrom Å 10,000,000,000
  • Mile mi 0.00062137119
  • Yard yd 1.0936133
  • Foot ft 3.2808399
  • Inch in 39.370079
  • Kiloyard kyd 0.0010936133
  • League lea 0.00020712373
  • Furlong fur 0.0049709695
  • Chain ch 0.049709695
  • Rod rd 0.19883878
  • Perch perch 0.19883878
  • Pole pole 0.19883878
  • Rope rope 0.16404199
  • Fathom fath 0.54680665
  • Link li 4.9709695
  • Hand hand 9.8425197
  • Ell ell 0.87489064
  • Barleycorn barleycorn 118.11024
  • Mil mil 39,370.079
  • Microinch µin 39,370,079
  • Caliber cl 3,937.0079
  • Centiinch cin 3,937.0079
  • Nautical Mile nmi 0.0005399568
  • Nautical Mile (UK) NM (UK) 0.00053961182
  • Nautical League nl 0.0001799856
  • Nautical League (UK) nl (UK) 0.00017987061
  • Mile (US survey) mi (US) 0.00062136995
  • Furlong (US survey) fur (US) 0.0049709596
  • Chain (US survey) ch (US) 0.049709596
  • Rod (US survey) rd (US) 0.19883838
  • Fathom (US survey) fath (US) 0.54680556
  • Foot (US survey) ft (US) 3.2808333
  • Link (US survey) li (US) 4.9709596
  • Inch (US survey) in (US) 39.37
  • League (statute) st.league 0.00020712332
  • Pica pica 236.22047
  • Point pt 2,834.6457
  • Twip twip 56,692.913
  • Light Year ly 1.0570008e-16
  • Astronomical Unit AU 6.6845871e-12
  • Parsec pc 3.2407793e-17
  • Kiloparsec kpc 3.2407793e-20
  • Megaparsec Mpc 3.2407793e-23
  • Earth's Equatorial Radius R⊕(eq) 1.5678559e-7
  • Earth's Polar Radius R⊕(pol) 1.5731304e-7
  • Earth's Distance from Sun d⊕☉ 6.684492e-12
  • Sun's Radius R☉ 1.4374012e-9
  • Bohr Radius a₀ 18,897,261,000
  • Electron Radius (classical) rₑ 354,869,120,000,000
  • Fermi F 1,000,000,000,000,000
  • X-unit X 9,979,243,200,000
  • Planck Length ℓP 6.1871425e+34
  • Mile (Roman) mi (Rom) 0.00067576517
  • Roman Actus actus 0.02818591
  • Arpent arpent 0.017087708
  • Cubit (UK) cubit 2.1872266
  • Cubit (Greek) cubit (Gk) 2.1608166
  • Long Cubit long cubit 1.8747657
  • Reed reed 0.36453777
  • Long Reed long reed 0.31246094
  • Span (cloth) span 4.3744532
  • Finger (cloth) finger 8.7489064
  • Nail (cloth) nail 17.497813
  • Handbreadth handbreadth 13.12336
  • Fingerbreadth fingerbreadth 52.493438
  • Aln aln 1.6841317
  • Famn famn 0.56137725
  • Ken ken 0.47206329
  • Russian Archin archin 1.4060742
  • Vara Castellana vara (cast) 1.1973868
  • Vara Conuquera vara (con) 0.39912894
  • Vara de Tarea vara (tarea) 0.39912894
  • Ja (Korean foot) 3.3
  • Chi 33
  • Pun 330
  • Gan 0.55
  • Jang 0.33
  • Ri (Korean) 0.0025462963

About the meter

The meter (m) is a SI unit of length. The SI base unit of length, defined by fixing the speed of light at 299,792,458 m/s.

About the foot

The foot (ft) is a Imperial unit of length.

Related conversions

Frequently asked questions

How many feet are in a metre?

About 3.28084 feet. The exact relationship runs the other way: a foot is defined as exactly 0.3048 metres, and 1 ÷ 0.3048 gives the repeating decimal you see here.

How do I convert metres into feet and inches?

Multiply by 3.28084 to get decimal feet, keep the whole number as feet, then multiply the remaining decimal by 12 for inches. 1.75 m becomes 5.7415 ft, which is 5 feet and 0.7415 × 12 = 8.9 inches.

Is the US survey foot still in use?

No. NIST and the National Geodetic Survey retired the US survey foot at the end of 2022, and all new US work uses the international foot of exactly 0.3048 m. Historic survey records may still reference the old definition.

How many feet are in a meter?

One meter equals 3.2808399 feet.

How do you convert meters to feet?

Multiply the number of meters by 3.28083989501 to get feet.

What is 1 foot in meters?

One foot equals 0.3048 meters.

When would I convert meters to feet?

This conversion is common when measuring height, screen sizes, travel distances, fabric, and construction dimensions.