Convert cups to liters
Cup (cup) to liter (l). One cup equals 0.236588 liters.
Formula
Cup to liter conversion table
| Cups | Liters | Liters | Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 0.236588 l | 1 l | 4.2268 cup |
| 2 cup | 0.473176 l | 2 l | 8.4535 cup |
| 3 cup | 0.709765 l | 3 l | 12.6803 cup |
| 5 cup | 1.1829 l | 5 l | 21.1338 cup |
| 10 cup | 2.3659 l | 10 l | 42.2675 cup |
| 20 cup | 4.7318 l | 20 l | 84.5351 cup |
| 50 cup | 11.8294 l | 50 l | 211.34 cup |
| 100 cup | 23.6588 l | 100 l | 422.68 cup |
| 500 cup | 118.29 l | 500 l | 2113.38 cup |
| 1000 cup | 236.59 l | 1000 l | 4226.75 cup |
Decimal cups to liters conversion table
The exact decimal amounts people look up most often, worked out with the same factor the converter above uses. Every row is calculated, not rounded off a chart.
| Cups | Liters |
|---|---|
| 0.1 cup | 0.023659 l |
| 0.125 cup | 0.029574 l |
| 0.15 cup | 0.035488 l |
| 0.2 cup | 0.047318 l |
| 0.25 cup | 0.059147 l |
| 0.3 cup | 0.070976 l |
| 0.33 cup | 0.078074 l |
| 0.35 cup | 0.082806 l |
| 0.4 cup | 0.094635 l |
| 0.45 cup | 0.106465 l |
| 0.5 cup | 0.118294 l |
| 0.55 cup | 0.130124 l |
| 0.6 cup | 0.141953 l |
| 0.65 cup | 0.153782 l |
| 0.67 cup | 0.158514 l |
| 0.7 cup | 0.165612 l |
| 0.75 cup | 0.177441 l |
| 0.8 cup | 0.189271 l |
| 0.85 cup | 0.2011 l |
| 0.9 cup | 0.212929 l |
| 0.95 cup | 0.224759 l |
| 1 cup | 0.236588 l |
| 1.05 cup | 0.248418 l |
| 1.1 cup | 0.260247 l |
| 1.15 cup | 0.272076 l |
| 1.2 cup | 0.283906 l |
| 1.25 cup | 0.295735 l |
| 1.3 cup | 0.307565 l |
| 1.35 cup | 0.319394 l |
| 1.4 cup | 0.331224 l |
| 1.45 cup | 0.343053 l |
| 1.5 cup | 0.354882 l |
| 1.55 cup | 0.366712 l |
| 1.6 cup | 0.378541 l |
| 1.65 cup | 0.390371 l |
| 1.7 cup | 0.4022 l |
| 1.75 cup | 0.414029 l |
| 1.8 cup | 0.425859 l |
| 1.85 cup | 0.437688 l |
| 1.9 cup | 0.449518 l |
| 1.95 cup | 0.461347 l |
| 2 cup | 0.473176 l |
Liters back to cups
The same conversion in reverse, for when you have the answer and need the question.
| Liters | Cups |
|---|---|
| 0.05 l | 0.211338 cup |
| 0.1 l | 0.422675 cup |
| 0.25 l | 1.0567 cup |
| 0.5 l | 2.1134 cup |
| 0.75 l | 3.1701 cup |
| 1 l | 4.2268 cup |
| 1.5 l | 6.3401 cup |
| 2 l | 8.4535 cup |
| 2.5 l | 10.5669 cup |
| 3 l | 12.6803 cup |
| 5 l | 21.1338 cup |
Where the cup to liter factor comes from
- UnitGlide uses the US customary cup, which is defined as exactly 8 US fluid ounces.
- A US fluid ounce is exactly 29.5735295625 ml, a figure that traces back to the US gallon being defined as exactly 231 cubic inches, with the inch fixed at exactly 2.54 cm.
- So one US customary cup is 8 × 29.5735295625 = 236.5882365 ml, which is 0.2365882365 litres.
- litres = cups × 0.2365882365. Reversing it, one litre is 4.2268 US cups.
Sources
Common mistakes
There are at least three different cups
The US customary cup used here is 236.5882365 ml. The US legal cup, required on FDA nutrition labels, is 240 ml. The metric cup used in Australia, New Zealand and much of Europe is 250 ml. That is a 5.6 percent spread between the smallest and largest, enough to matter in baking. Check which cup your recipe means before trusting any single number.
Cups convert to volume, not to weight
A cup is a volume, so converting it to litres or millilitres is exact and works for any substance. Converting a cup to grams is not: 0.5 cup of flour and 0.5 cup of honey occupy the same 0.118 litres but weigh very different amounts, because grams depend on the density of that specific ingredient.
To convert cups to liters, divide the number of cups by 4.2268. One cup equals 0.236588 liters, and one liter equals 4.2268 cups, so the relationship is fixed and exact. As a worked example, 10 cup comes to 2.3659 l. Enter your own figure in the converter above to get an instant answer, or use the swap button to flip the direction. This is a volume conversion, and like every tool on UnitGlide it runs locally in your browser with no account or upload required. The table further down shows a range of common cup values already worked out in liters, plus the reverse liter to cup direction, which is handy for quick reference or double-checking a result by hand.
Cup to liter in practice
Cups to litres scales a recipe from the US kitchen's cup measure up to the litre a metric cook or a large batch works in.
Scaling a recipe up
A single US cup is about 0.237 L, so a four-cup batch of stock is just under a litre and an eight-cup punch is nearly two. Cooks doubling or tripling a recipe convert to litres to size a pot, a jug or a slow cooker, because counting out sixteen individual cups stops being practical once the quantities grow.
Which cup
The cup is not one fixed size. UnitGlide uses the US customary cup of about 237 mL, but a US 'legal' cup on nutrition labels is 240 mL and a metric cup is 250 mL. Across a large batch those small differences add up, so it is worth knowing which cup a recipe was written with before scaling it to litres and trusting the total.
Rounding for the kitchen
For most cooking, treating a cup as a quarter-litre is close enough: four cups make roughly a litre, and the small shortfall vanishes into the mixing. Where it matters is baking, which is less forgiving of volume error, so for a cake or a bread dough it is safer to use the exact 0.237 factor than the round quarter-litre.
Volume, not weight
A cup measures volume, so a cup of flour and a cup of syrup are the same 0.237 L but nowhere near the same weight. Converting cups to litres keeps you in volume, which is fine for liquids; for dry ingredients that a recipe really wants by mass, a kitchen scale in grams is the more reliable route.
Liquid cups and dry cups
US kitchens traditionally use different measuring cups for wet and dry ingredients, but both hold the same volume; the split is about how you fill them cleanly, not the size. So a cup of milk and a cup of flour both convert to the same 0.237 L here, even though one is levelled off with a knife and the other poured to a line. The volume is identical; only the measuring technique differs.
Frequently asked questions
How many litres is 0.5 cup?
0.5 US customary cup is 0.1183 litres, or about 118 ml. If your recipe means the 240 ml US legal cup, it is 0.12 litres instead.
How many cups are in a litre?
One litre is 4.2268 US customary cups. With the 250 ml metric cup it is exactly 4 cups, which is why metric recipes divide so neatly.
How many litres is a third of a cup?
One third of a US cup (0.3333 cups) is 0.0789 litres, about 78.9 ml. Two thirds of a cup is 0.1577 litres, about 157.7 ml.
How many liters are in a cup?
One cup equals 0.236588 liters. The ratio is constant, so you can multiply any number of cups by 0.236588 to get liters.
What is the formula to convert cups to liters?
Use liters = cups ÷ 4.2268. UnitGlide applies this exact formula for every value, so results stay accurate across the whole range.
How do I convert liters back to cups?
Go the other way by using one liter equals 4.2268 cups. You can also press the swap button in the converter above to flip the direction in one click.
Is this cup to liter converter accurate?
Yes. It uses internationally defined SI conversion factors, as maintained by the BIPM, and all math runs in your browser so nothing is rounded away on a server. For everyday use the displayed precision is more than enough.