To convert meters to feet, divide by 0.3048. That is the exact length of one foot in meters, fixed by international agreement in 1959, so 1 meter is 3.28084 feet (rounded) and 10 meters is 32.81 feet. This guide covers the formula, a conversion table that includes feet and inches, the step people most often get wrong (turning decimal feet into inches), square meters to square feet for floor plans, and which SamemaS tool to use for each job.
The formula
- Meters to feet:
ft = m ÷ 0.3048, or approximatelym × 3.28084 - Feet to meters:
m = ft × 0.3048(exact) - Meters to inches:
in = m ÷ 0.0254, since 1 inch is exactly 2.54 cm
The exact statement is "1 foot = 0.3048 meter". The reverse, 1 m = 3.280839895… ft, is an endless decimal, so 3.28084 is already rounded. Five decimals are plenty: the error is about 1 part in 3 million. When you need an exact result, divide by 0.3048 rather than multiplying by 3.28084.
The meter itself is defined by the speed of light. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) fixes the speed of light in vacuum at exactly 299,792,458 m/s, so a meter is the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second. The foot is tied to that definition through the 0.3048 factor, which the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) lists as exact.
Meters to feet table
Each row was computed from the exact definition. The last column splits the result into whole feet and inches, rounded to a tenth of an inch.
| Meters | Feet (decimal) | Feet and inches |
|---|---|---|
| 1 m | 3.281 ft | 3 ft 3.4 in |
| 1.5 m | 4.921 ft | 4 ft 11.1 in |
| 2 m | 6.562 ft | 6 ft 6.7 in |
| 2.5 m | 8.202 ft | 8 ft 2.4 in |
| 3 m | 9.843 ft | 9 ft 10.1 in |
| 3.5 m | 11.483 ft | 11 ft 5.8 in |
| 4 m | 13.123 ft | 13 ft 1.5 in |
| 5 m | 16.404 ft | 16 ft 4.9 in |
| 6 m | 19.685 ft | 19 ft 8.2 in |
| 8 m | 26.247 ft | 26 ft 3.0 in |
| 10 m | 32.808 ft | 32 ft 9.7 in |
| 20 m | 65.617 ft | 65 ft 7.4 in |
| 25 m | 82.021 ft | 82 ft 0.3 in |
| 50 m | 164.042 ft | 164 ft 0.5 in |
| 100 m | 328.084 ft | 328 ft 1.0 in |
Going the other way needs no rounding at all, because every value is a whole number of 0.3048 m steps:
| Feet | Meters | Feet | Meters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ft | 0.3048 m | 10 ft | 3.048 m |
| 3 ft | 0.9144 m | 12 ft | 3.6576 m |
| 5 ft | 1.524 m | 20 ft | 6.096 m |
| 6 ft | 1.8288 m | 50 ft | 15.24 m |
| 8 ft | 2.4384 m | 100 ft | 30.48 m |
Worked examples
1. A room length in feet and inches
A floor plan lists a bedroom wall as 3.5 m and you want it the way a US tape measure reads:
- 3.5 ÷ 0.3048 = 11.483 ft
- Keep the whole feet: 11 ft. The leftover is 0.483 ft.
- Convert the leftover to inches: 0.483 × 12 = 5.8 in.
- Answer: 11 ft 5.8 in, or 11 ft 6 in to the nearest inch.
2. A height going the other way
Someone is 6 ft 2 in tall. In meters:
- Turn it all into inches: 6 × 12 + 2 = 74 in.
- Multiply by 0.0254: 74 × 0.0254 = 1.8796 m, about 1.88 m.
3. A swimming pool
World Aquatics runs "short course" competition in 25 m pools and "long course" in 50 m pools. 25 ÷ 0.3048 = 82.02 ft and 50 ÷ 0.3048 = 164.04 ft. Neither is the same as the 25-yard pools common in the US, which are 22.86 m long (US Masters Swimming notes that 25-yard pools are the more common kind), so lap times from the two aren't directly comparable.
The decimal-feet trap
A frequent error in this conversion is reading the decimals of a feet result as inches. 11.48 ft is not 11 ft 4.8 in, and 11.5 ft is not 11 ft 5 in. A foot has 12 inches, not 10, so the decimal part has to be multiplied by 12: 0.5 ft is 6 in, 0.25 ft is 3 in, and 0.1 ft is 1.2 in.
The mistake usually creeps in when a calculator or converter gives decimal feet and the reader copies it onto a form that asks for feet and inches. If the answer is a person's height, use a tool that does the split for you (see the last section). For more on heights specifically, our article on how tall 180 cm is in feet and inches walks through the same steps with a height table.
Familiar lengths in both units
Mount Everest is a good test of rounding. China and Nepal announced a joint survey height of 8,848.86 m in December 2020. Divided by 0.3048 that is 29,031.7 ft, published as 29,032 ft. Using the rounded factor 3.28 instead gives 29,024 ft, about 7 ft short. At that scale the factor you choose shows up in the answer.
Square meters to square feet
Floor areas in listings and plans are the other place people meet this conversion, and the factor is different. Because area has two dimensions, you square the length factor: 1 m² = 1 ÷ 0.3048² = 10.7639 ft² (rounded). Going the other way, 1 ft² = 0.09290304 m² exactly.
- A 4 m × 3 m room is 12 m². In feet it is 13.12 ft × 9.84 ft, which is 129.17 ft².
- An 80 m² apartment is 861.1 ft².
- A 1,000 ft² apartment is 92.9 m².
Don't multiply square meters by 3.28: that gives 39.4 ft² for the 12 m² room, less than a third of the real figure. The area converter handles square meters, square feet, acres and hectares directly.
When the international foot of 0.3048 m was adopted in 1959, US land surveying kept the older "US survey foot" of 1200/3937 m. The two differ by about 2 parts per million, roughly an eighth of an inch per mile, which matters only over large survey distances. NIST deprecated the survey foot after December 31, 2022, but you may still meet it in older US property and mapping records.
Mental shortcuts
For a quick estimate, these work in your head. The error column is measured against the exact factor.
| Shortcut | Example: 100 m | Error |
|---|---|---|
| × 3 | 300 ft | 8.6% low |
| × 3, then add 10% (× 3.3) | 330 ft | 0.58% high |
| × 3.28 | 328 ft | 0.03% low |
| Exact (÷ 0.3048) | 328.08 ft | none |
"Times three plus ten percent" is fine for a hiking sign or a quick sense of a room. For anything you will cut, order or sign, use the exact factor.
Which SamemaS tool to use
- Lengths and distances: the length converter shows twelve units at once (kilometer, meter, centimeter, millimeter, micrometer, nanometer, mile, yard, foot, inch, nautical mile and light year) using the exact 0.3048 m foot. It gives feet as a decimal, so for feet and inches use the split method above.
- Feet and inches: the height converter shows the result as feet plus inches (for example 1.8 m becomes 5' 10.87"), and also lets you type feet and inches separately to get centimeters and meters.
- Floor areas: the area converter covers square meters and square feet.
All of them run the calculation in your browser as you type. For background on why the US still uses feet while most of the world uses meters, see metric vs imperial: which countries use which.
The short version
- 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly, so feet = meters ÷ 0.3048 (about × 3.28084).
- To get feet and inches, multiply the decimal part of the feet by 12: 11.483 ft is 11 ft 5.8 in.
- Areas use the squared factor: 1 m² ≈ 10.764 ft².
- × 3.28 is within 0.03%; × 3.3 is 0.58% high.
- Use the length converter for decimal feet and the height converter for feet and inches.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B: Conversion Factors — National Institute of Standards and Technology
- SI base unit: metre — BIPM
- International yard and pound — Wikipedia
- A final farewell to the US survey foot — Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office
- Mt Everest: Nepal, China announce revised height at 8,849 metres — Al Jazeera
- How many laps make a mile in swimming? — US Masters Swimming