Convert liters to milliliters
One liter (l) equals 1000 milliliters (ml), so multiply liters by 1000 to get milliliters.
How do you convert liters to milliliters?
Is 1 mL the same as 1 cc?
Yes, exactly. One millilitre is one cubic centimetre, so mL, cm³ and cc are three names for a single volume, and a 5 cc syringe dose is 5 mL with nothing to convert. That identity has been exact since 1964, when the General Conference on Weights and Measures redefined the litre as exactly one cubic decimetre. It is also why a litre is exactly 1,000 mL rather than approximately so.
The 1901 to 1964 wrinkle
Between 1901 and 1964 the litre was defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water at maximum density, which turned out to be about 1.000028 dm³. In that period a millilitre was 1.000028 cm³ rather than exactly one, so precise measurements published in litres before 1964 carry a 28 parts per million difference. The 12th General Conference dropped the water definition, and the two units have been identical ever since.
L, l and the lowercase problem
Both L and l are accepted symbols for the litre, confirmed by the 16th General Conference in 1979. NIST recommends the capital L in the United States because a lowercase l is easily read as a figure 1 in many typefaces. The choice is cosmetic: 0.5 L, 0.5 l and 500 mL are the same volume.
Millilitres are not fluid ounces, and there are two of those
A US fluid ounce is exactly 29.5735295625 mL and an imperial fluid ounce is exactly 28.4130625 mL, so one litre is 33.81 US fluid ounces but 35.20 imperial ones. A recipe that mixes litres and ounces has to say which ounce it means, and assuming a round 30 mL each puts a litre out by roughly half an ounce.
One step further up: litres and cubic metres
The same ladder continues past the litre. A cubic metre is 1,000 litres, which is a million millilitres, and water and gas meters read in cubic metres, so a bill showing 12 m³ covers 12,000 litres. Every rung is a factor of 1,000: cubic centimetre, cubic decimetre, cubic metre, or equivalently millilitre, litre, kilolitre.
Litres in millilitres, cubic centimetres and US fluid ounces
The millilitre and cubic centimetre columns are identical by definition, which is the point of the table. The fluid ounce column uses the US fluid ounce of exactly 29.5735295625 mL, not the imperial one.
| Litres | Millilitres | Cubic centimetres | US fluid ounces |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.001 L | 1 mL | 1 cm³ | 0.03 fl oz |
| 0.005 L | 5 mL | 5 cm³ | 0.17 fl oz |
| 0.01 L | 10 mL | 10 cm³ | 0.34 fl oz |
| 0.05 L | 50 mL | 50 cm³ | 1.69 fl oz |
| 0.1 L | 100 mL | 100 cm³ | 3.38 fl oz |
| 0.25 L | 250 mL | 250 cm³ | 8.45 fl oz |
| 0.5 L | 500 mL | 500 cm³ | 16.91 fl oz |
| 0.75 L | 750 mL | 750 cm³ | 25.36 fl oz |
| 1 L | 1,000 mL | 1,000 cm³ | 33.81 fl oz |
| 1.5 L | 1,500 mL | 1,500 cm³ | 50.72 fl oz |
| 2 L | 2,000 mL | 2,000 cm³ | 67.63 fl oz |
| 5 L | 5,000 mL | 5,000 cm³ | 169.07 fl oz |
Sources
Liter to milliliter conversion table
| Liters | Milliliters | Milliliters | Liters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 l | 1000 ml | 1 ml | 0.001 l |
| 2 l | 2000 ml | 2 ml | 0.002 l |
| 3 l | 3000 ml | 3 ml | 0.003 l |
| 5 l | 5000 ml | 5 ml | 0.005 l |
| 10 l | 10000 ml | 10 ml | 0.01 l |
| 20 l | 20000 ml | 20 ml | 0.02 l |
| 50 l | 50000 ml | 50 ml | 0.05 l |
| 100 l | 100000 ml | 100 ml | 0.1 l |
| 500 l | 500000 ml | 500 ml | 0.5 l |
| 1000 l | 1000000 ml | 1000 ml | 1 l |
Decimal liters to milliliters 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.
| Liters | Milliliters |
|---|---|
| 0.003 l | 3 ml |
| 0.01 l | 10 ml |
| 0.015 l | 15 ml |
| 0.02 l | 20 ml |
| 0.025 l | 25 ml |
| 0.03 l | 30 ml |
| 0.035 l | 35 ml |
| 0.04 l | 40 ml |
| 0.045 l | 45 ml |
| 0.05 l | 50 ml |
| 0.055 l | 55 ml |
| 0.06 l | 60 ml |
| 0.065 l | 65 ml |
| 0.07 l | 70 ml |
| 0.075 l | 75 ml |
| 0.08 l | 80 ml |
| 0.085 l | 85 ml |
| 0.09 l | 90 ml |
| 0.095 l | 95 ml |
| 0.1 l | 100 ml |
| 0.125 l | 125 ml |
| 0.15 l | 150 ml |
| 0.2 l | 200 ml |
| 0.25 l | 250 ml |
| 0.3 l | 300 ml |
| 0.33 l | 330 ml |
| 0.35 l | 350 ml |
| 0.4 l | 400 ml |
| 0.45 l | 450 ml |
| 0.5 l | 500 ml |
| 0.55 l | 550 ml |
| 0.6 l | 600 ml |
| 0.65 l | 650 ml |
| 0.67 l | 670 ml |
| 0.7 l | 700 ml |
| 0.75 l | 750 ml |
| 0.8 l | 800 ml |
| 0.85 l | 850 ml |
| 0.9 l | 900 ml |
| 0.95 l | 950 ml |
| 1 l | 1000 ml |
| 1.05 l | 1050 ml |
| 1.1 l | 1100 ml |
| 1.15 l | 1150 ml |
| 1.2 l | 1200 ml |
| 1.25 l | 1250 ml |
| 1.3 l | 1300 ml |
| 1.35 l | 1350 ml |
| 1.4 l | 1400 ml |
| 1.45 l | 1450 ml |
| 1.5 l | 1500 ml |
| 1.55 l | 1550 ml |
| 1.6 l | 1600 ml |
| 1.65 l | 1650 ml |
| 1.7 l | 1700 ml |
| 1.75 l | 1750 ml |
| 1.8 l | 1800 ml |
| 1.85 l | 1850 ml |
| 1.9 l | 1900 ml |
| 1.95 l | 1950 ml |
| 2 l | 2000 ml |
Milliliters back to liters
The same conversion in reverse, for when you have the answer and need the question.
| Milliliters | Liters |
|---|---|
| 1 ml | 0.001 l |
| 5 ml | 0.005 l |
| 10 ml | 0.01 l |
| 25 ml | 0.025 l |
| 50 ml | 0.05 l |
| 100 ml | 0.1 l |
| 250 ml | 0.25 l |
| 500 ml | 0.5 l |
| 750 ml | 0.75 l |
| 1000 ml | 1 l |
| 1500 ml | 1.5 l |
Where the liter to milliliter factor comes from
- The litre is not an SI base unit, but it has an exact SI definition: one litre is exactly one cubic decimetre (1 dm³), which is 0.001 m³.
- The prefix milli means one thousandth, so a millilitre is exactly 0.001 litres, which works out to exactly one cubic centimetre (1 cm³).
- One litre therefore holds exactly 1000 millilitres. Like every metric step, the factor is exact by definition.
- millilitres = litres × 1000, a decimal point moved three places right. 0.02 l becomes 20 ml and 0.125 l becomes 125 ml.
Sources
To convert liters to milliliters, multiply the number of liters by 1000. One liter equals 1000 milliliters, and one milliliter equals 0.001 liters, so the relationship is fixed and exact. As a worked example, 10 l comes to 10000 ml. 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 liter values already worked out in milliliters, plus the reverse milliliter to liter direction, which is handy for quick reference or double-checking a result by hand.
Liter to milliliter in practice
Litres to millilitres is one of the cleanest conversions there is, which is exactly why it is worth getting the decimal point right in the kitchen, the pharmacy and the lab.
Where precision matters
Cooking scales up and down through it constantly, but medicine is where the decimal point earns its keep: a 0.5 L bottle is 500 mL, and a 2.5 mL infant dose is 0.0025 L. Homebrewers, aquarium keepers and gardeners dosing nutrients all live in the same territory, moving between litre-scale volumes and millilitre-scale additions without wanting to slip a factor of ten.
Engine sizes and dosing syringes
Both are marked in cc rather than millilitres, purely by trade convention: a 1,500 cc engine displaces 1.5 L, and a 5 cc oral syringe delivers 5 mL. Nurses, mechanics and homebrewers therefore move between litre-scale containers and cc-scale instruments all day without any arithmetic beyond a decimal point.
A quick check
Because the factor is a flat thousand, a fast sanity test is to count decimal places: 0.05 L should gain three zeros to become 50 mL, and 1.25 L becomes 1,250 mL. If the answer is off by a power of ten, a decimal place went missing on the way.
Reading a drinks label
Bottled drinks straddle the two units by habit: a soft drink is sold as 500 mL but a bottle of wine as 0.75 L, which is the same 750 mL. A litre of milk is a round 1,000 mL, and a small carton is often 200 mL, or 0.2 L. Being fluent both ways makes it easy to compare pack sizes on a shelf where some are marked in litres and others in millilitres.
Frequently asked questions
Is 1 litre the same as 1000 cc?
Yes. A litre holds 1,000 mL, and each millilitre is one cubic centimetre, so a litre is exactly 1,000 cc. It is also exactly one cubic decimetre, which is where the whole chain of definitions starts.
Is 1 cc the same as 1 mL?
Yes, exactly. A cubic centimetre and a millilitre are the same volume, which is why syringes marked in cc and medicine doses given in mL need no conversion between them.
Is a millilitre the same as a gram?
Only for water, and only approximately. A millilitre measures volume and a gram measures mass; they line up for cold water because the litre was once defined that way. A millilitre of cooking oil weighs about 0.9 g, so the shortcut fails as soon as the liquid is not water.
How many ml is 0.02 l?
0.02 l is 20 ml. Multiply litres by 1000: 0.02 × 1000 = 20. That is about four teaspoons.
How many ml is 0.05 litres?
0.05 litres is 50 ml. The factor never changes, so 0.005 l is 5 ml and 0.5 l is 500 ml.
Is 1000 ml exactly 1 litre?
Yes, exactly. The millilitre is defined as one thousandth of a litre, and one litre is defined as one cubic decimetre, so both relationships are exact rather than approximate.
How many milliliters are in a liter?
One liter equals 1000 milliliters. The ratio is constant, so you can multiply any number of liters by 1000 to get milliliters.
What is the formula to convert liters to milliliters?
Use milliliters = liters × 1000. UnitGlide applies this exact formula for every value, so results stay accurate across the whole range.
How do I convert milliliters back to liters?
Go the other way by using one milliliter equals 0.001 liters. You can also press the swap button in the converter above to flip the direction in one click.
Is this liter to milliliter 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.