Feet are the default for heights, ceilings, room dimensions and — around the world — aircraft altitude. Meters are what everything else uses. This converter takes a value in feet, optionally plus inches, and returns meters, centimeters and the total in inches, using the exact international foot.
How to use the feet to meters converter
- Enter the whole feet in Feet (ft). You can also type decimal feet such as 5.75.
- If your measurement is in feet and inches, put the inches in Plus inches (optional). Leave it blank otherwise.
- Read the result in meters, plus meters-and-centimeters and the total in inches. The table underneath runs from 1 ft to 35,000 ft.
Feet to meters formula
When inches are included, it is cleaner to convert everything to inches and use the exact inch factor:
Both routes give identical results, because 0.3048 is exactly 12 × 0.0254.
Worked example: a height of 5 ft 11 in
Step 1. Total inches: 5 × 12 + 11 = 71 in.
Step 2. 71 × 0.0254 = 1.8034 m, or 180.34 cm.
A second example from aviation: airliners commonly cruise around 35,000 ft. 35,000 × 0.3048 = 10,668 m, which is why flight maps outside the US often show “10.7 km”.
Altitudes and elevations
Aviation uses feet for altitude in most of the world, while maps, hiking guides and weather services outside the US use meters. These are exact conversions of familiar round numbers:
| Elevation | Feet | Meters |
|---|---|---|
| Typical small-plane pattern altitude | 1,000 | 304.8 |
| Denver, “the Mile High City” | 5,280 | 1,609.34 |
| Round-number mountain benchmark | 10,000 | 3,048 |
| Colorado’s “fourteeners” (lower limit) | 14,000 | 4,267.2 |
| Typical jet cruising altitude | 35,000 | 10,668 |
Mount Everest was remeasured in 2020 by China and Nepal at 8,848.86 m, which converts to about 29,031.7 ft — usually quoted as 29,032 ft.
Ceilings and rooms
In US construction, standard ceiling heights are 8, 9 and 10 feet, which are 2.4384 m, 2.7432 m and 3.048 m. A metric architect will usually round these to 2.44, 2.74 and 3.05 m. Room dimensions convert the same way, but area does not: a 12 × 14 ft room is 3.6576 × 4.2672 m. For floor area, convert the result in square feet with the square feet to square meters converter rather than multiplying an area by 0.3048.
Quick estimates
Dividing feet by 3.3 gets you within 0.6% of the right answer in meters: 35,000 ÷ 3.3 ≈ 10,600 m. Another easy rule is “30 cm per foot”, which is only 1.6% short — 6 ft becomes 180 cm instead of 182.88 cm.
The international foot vs the survey foot
Until 2022 the United States kept two feet: the international foot of exactly 0.3048 m and the slightly longer US survey foot of 1200/3937 m. The difference is 2 parts per million — about 3.2 mm over a mile — but state plane coordinates run into the millions of feet, where it grows to several feet. Since January 1, 2023, NIST and the National Geodetic Survey recommend the international foot for all new work. This converter uses the international foot; for other length units, see the length converter.
Frequently asked questions
How many meters are in a foot?
Exactly 0.3048 meters, or 30.48 cm. The figure has been fixed by international agreement since 1959, so multiplying by 0.3048 gives an exact result.
How do I convert feet and inches to meters?
Turn everything into inches first (feet × 12 + inches), then multiply by 0.0254. For 5 ft 11 in: 5 × 12 + 11 = 71 in, and 71 × 0.0254 = 1.8034 m. The converter does this when you fill in the optional inches box.
How many meters is 6 feet?
6 ft is 1.8288 m, or 182.88 cm.
What was the US survey foot?
An older US foot defined as 1200/3937 m, about 0.3048006 m. It was used for land surveying and some state coordinate systems and differs from the international foot by 2 parts per million. NIST and NOAA retired it at the end of 2022, but older deeds and maps can still use it.