Length units converter - converts units between kilometers, meters, decimeters, angstroms, miles, feet, inches, american/imperial units, nautical (sea) units and astronomical units

Symbolic algebra

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Inputs data - value and unit, which we're going to convert#

Value
Unit
Decimals

$1$ (meter) is equal to:#

SI (metric)#

Unit	Symbol	Symbol (plain text)	Value as symbolic	Value as numeric	Notes	Unit conversion formula
yottameter	Show source $Ym$	Ym	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One yottameter is equal to septylion of meters: $1\ Ym= 10^{24}\ m$	Show source $...$
zettameter	Show source $Zm$	Zm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One zettameter is equal to sextillion of meters: $1\ Zm= 10^{21}\ m$	Show source $...$
exameter	Show source $Em$	Em	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One exameter is equal to quintillion of meters: $1\ Em= 10^{18}\ m$	Show source $...$
petameter	Show source $Pm$	Pm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One petameter is equal to quadrillion of meters: $1\ Pm= 10^{15}\ m$	Show source $...$
terameter	Show source $Tm$	Tm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One terameter is equal to trillion of meters: $1\ Tm= 10^{12}\ m$	Show source $...$
gigameter	Show source $Gm$	Gm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One gigameter is equal to billion of meters: $1\ Gm= 10^{9}\ m$	Show source $...$
megameter	Show source $Mm$	Mm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One megameter is equal to million of meters: $1\ Mm=1000000\ m= 10^{6}\ m$	Show source $...$
kilometer	Show source $km$	km	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One kilometer is equal to thausand of meters: $1\ km=1000\ m= 10^{3}\ m$	Show source $...$
hektometer	Show source $hm$	hm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One hektometer is equal to hundred of meters: $1\ hm=100\ m= 10^{2}\ m$	Show source $...$
meter	Show source $m$	m	Show source $\text{...}$	-	The basic length unit in the SI system. 20.05.2019 the following meter definition was adopted: The metre, symbol m, is the SI unit of length. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the speed of light in vacuum c to be 299792458 when expressed in the unit m⋅s−1, where the second is defined in terms of the caesium frequency ΔνCs.. $1\ m = \frac{9192631770\ c}{299792458\ \Delta \nu_{Cs}}$	Show source $...$
decimeter	Show source $dm$	dm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One decimeter is equal to one tenth of meter: $1\ dm=0.1\ m= 10^{-1}\ m$	Show source $...$
centimeter	Show source $cm$	cm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One centimeter is equal to one hundredth of meter: $1\ cm=0.01\ m= 10^{-2}\ m$	Show source $...$
milimeter	Show source $mm$	mm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One milimeter is equal to one thousandth of meter: $1\ mm=0.001\ m= 10^{-3}\ m$	Show source $...$
micrometre (micron)	Show source $\mu m$	µm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One micrometre (micron) is equal to one millionth of meter: $1\ \mu m=0.000001\ m= 10^{-6}\ m$	Show source $...$
nanometer	Show source $nm$	nm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One nanometer is equal to one billionth of meter: $1\ nm= 10^{-9}\ m$	Show source $...$
pikometer	Show source $pm$	pm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One pikometer is equal to one trillionth of meter: $1\ pm= 10^{-12}\ m$	Show source $...$
femtometer	Show source $fm$	fm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One femtometer is equal to one quadrillionth of meter: $1\ fm= 10^{-15}\ m$	Show source $...$
attometer	Show source $am$	am	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One attometer is equal to one quintillionth of meter: $1\ am= 10^{-18}\ m$	Show source $...$
zeptometer	Show source $zm$	zm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One zeptometer is equal to one sextillionth of meter: $1\ zm= 10^{-21}\ m$	Show source $...$
yoctometer	Show source $ym$	ym	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Derived length unit in SI system. One yoctometer is equal to one septillionth of meter: $1\ ym= 10^{-24}\ m$	Show source $...$

British-american#

Unit	Symbol	Symbol (plain text)	Value as symbolic	Value as numeric	Notes	Unit conversion formula
statute league	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Imperial unit of length. Historically defined as the distance that can be walked on foot within one hour. One statute league corresponds to three imperial miles (3 mi). $1\ \text {statute league} = 3\ mi$	Show source $...$
mile	Show source $mi$	mi	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Imperial length unit. One mile is equal to 1760 yards or 5280 feet. $1\ mi = 1760\ yd = 5280\ ft$	Show source $...$
furlong	Show source $fur$	fur	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Historic length unit used in Anglo-Saxon countries. One furlong corresponds to one eighth of mile (1/8 mi). $1\ fu = \frac{1}{8}\ mi$	Show source $...$
surveyor's chain	Show source $ch$	ch	Show source $\text{...}$	-	A unit of length sometimes used in geodesy in Anglo-Saxon countries. One surveyor's chain corresponds to sixty six feet (66 ft). See foot unit for more. $1\ ch\ = 66\ ft$	Show source $...$
engineer's chain	Show source $ch$	ch	Show source $\text{...}$	-	A unit of length sometimes used in technical sciences in Anglo-Saxon countries. One engineer's chain corresponds to one hundred feet (100 ft). See foot unit for more. $1\ ch\ = 100\ ft$	Show source $...$
rod	Show source $rd$	rd	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Historic length unit used in Anglo-Saxon countries. One rod corresponds to five and a half yards (5.5 yd). See the yard unit for more information. $1\ rd = 5 \frac{1}{2}\ yd$	Show source $...$
fathom	Show source $fm$	fm	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Historic length unit. One fathom corresponded to the length of the arms of an adult male. In Great Britain it was used to measure sea depth on navigational charts. One British fathom is equivalent to six feet (6 ft). $1\ fm = 6\ ft$	Show source $...$
yard	Show source $yd$	yd	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Unit of length used in Anglo-Saxon countries. One yard corresponds to three feet (3 ft). See unit rate for more information. $1\ yd = 3\ ft$	Show source $...$
foot	Show source $ft$	ft	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Unit of length used in Anglo-Saxon countries. One foot corresponds to twelve inches (12 in). See the unit inch for more information. $1\ ft = 12\ in$	Show source $...$
link	Show source $li$	li	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Equivalent to one hundredth of a survey's chain. $1\ li = \frac{1}{100}\ ch$	Show source $...$
hand	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	A unit of length used in Anglo-Saxon countries to measure the height of riding horses. One hand corresponds to the average width of a human hand, i.e. approx. 7.44 centimeters. $1\ \text{hand} = 7.44\ cm$	Show source $...$
inch	Show source $in$	in	Show source $\text{...}$	-	An Anglo-Saxon unit of length defined historically as three times the average length of barley grain, i.e. about 2.54 centimeters. $1\ in = 2.54\ cm$	Show source $...$
line	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	An Anglo-Saxon unit of length used to determine the caliber of a weapon and historically to enter the dimensions of the buttons. One line corresponds to a tenth of an inch (0.1 in). $1\ \text{line} = \frac{1}{10}\ in$	Show source $...$

Astronomical#

Unit	Symbol	Symbol (plain text)	Value as symbolic	Value as numeric	Notes	Unit conversion formula
parsec	Show source $pc$	pc	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Distance unit used in astronomy. One parsec corresponds to the distance from which half of the great axis of the Earth's orbit is visible as an arc with a length of 1 arc second, which corresponds to about 3.2616 light years. $1\ pc = 3.2616\ ly$	Show source $...$
light year	Show source $ly$	ly	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Distance unit used in astronomy. One light year corresponds to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Julian year i.e. within 31 557 600 seconds. $1\ ly = 31\ 557\ 600\ s \cdot c \approx 9.4607 \ 10^{15}\ m$ Where: c - the speed of light in vacuum.	Show source $...$
light minute	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Distance unit used in astronomy. One light minute corresponds to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one minute or sixty light seconds. See the light second unit for more information. $1\ lm = 60\ ls$	Show source $...$
light second	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Distance unit used in astronomy. One light second corresponds to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one second, i.e. about three hundred million kilometers. $1\ ls = 2.99792458 \times 10^{8} m$	Show source $...$
astronomical unit	Show source $au$	au	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Distance unit used in astronomy. One astronomical unit corresponds to the average distance of the Earth from the Sun or about one hundred and fifty million kilometers. $1\ au = 1.495978707 \times 10^{11} m$	Show source $...$

Nautical#

Unit	Symbol	Symbol (plain text)	Value as symbolic	Value as numeric	Notes	Unit conversion formula
sea league	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Historic unit of length. One sea league roughly corresponds to the sight range of a man who is 178 centimeters tall at sea level or three nautical miles (3 mi). $1\ \text{sea league} = 3\ mi = 5.556\ km$	Show source $...$
sea mile	Show source $nmi$	nmi	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Junit of length used in maritime navigation and aviation. One nautical mile is equal to the length of the Earth's meridian arc, corresponding to one arc minute of a large circle. $1\ nmi = 1852\ m$	Show source $...$
sea cabel	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Equivalent to one-tenth of a nautical mile (1/10 nmi). See nautical unit to learn more. $1\ \text{sea cabel} = \frac{1}{10}\ nmi$	Show source $...$
british cabel	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Equivalent to a hundred fathoms (100 fm). See the fathom unit for more information. $1\ \text{british cabel} = 100\ fm$	Show source $...$
US cabel	Show source $-$	-	Show source $\text{...}$	-	Equivalent to a hundred twenty fathoms (120 fm). See the fathom unit for more information. $1\ \text{US cabel} = 120\ fm$	Show source $...$

Chemistry and atomic physics#

Unit	Symbol	Symbol (plain text)	Value as symbolic	Value as numeric	Notes	Unit conversion formula
angstrom	Show source $\text{Å}$	Å	Show source $\text{...}$	-	A unit of length used in chemistry and atomic physics. One angstrom has been chosen so that the distances on the atom scale, e.g. the length of bonds in atomic molecules, do not require the use of additional prefixes. The bond length in the hydrogen molecule is about 0.74 angstroms. One angstrom corresponds to one tenth of a nanometer (0.1 nm). $1\ \text{Å} = \frac{1}{10}\ nm = 10^{-10}\ m$	Show source $...$

What is "Length"?#

The word "length" has several meanings (ex. the length of a word). We will focus on length in physical meaning in this article.

The definition of length:
LENGTH is the physical measure of distance between two points (according to measurements in the Euclidian space - so linear). The distance itself can be measured as a straight line, but also as a length of a curve.

The meaning of "length" could be equal to one of the following:

distance - most common: description of how far apart objects are. In strictly physical meaning - the length of way the object moves (possibly not the shortest way connecting two points)
displacement - the length of shortest possible way connecting two points
height - mostly in a vertical size of an object (like how "tall" it is)
altitude - when talking about how far in the air the object is (ex. how high is the airplane)
depth
width
size

Typically the symbol of length is L or l. Base unit is 1 meter. Length cannot be negative.

Length is measure of one dimension. However there is also area for 2 dimensions (length squared) and volume for 3 dimensions.

Units#

The meter (also called metre) is the base unit of length in SI. It is defined as the distance travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299.792.458 of a second. It has been defined on 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1983.

After thousands of years of distance measurements, the thousands of units has been defined. The most known units we found are:

meter - and metric dependent units like kilometer, decimeter, centimeter, milimeter, micrometer, nanometer, angstrom etc. - the decimal multiples and submultiples of meter (so, thousands, milions... of meters) according to SI defined prefixes
mile, yard, foot, fathom, inch and less known league, furlong, chain, rod, link, hand, line - british (imperial) and american(US) units
parsec, astronomical unit - dedicated for astronomy
light year, light minute and light second - the distance travelled by light in vacuum during given unit of time (a year, minute, second etc.). These are really big lengths, so also used mainly for astronomical measurements.
sea league, sea mile, cabel (british or american) - are nautical (sea realated) units.

How to convert#

Enter the number to field "value" - enter the NUMBER only, no other words, symbols or unit names. You can use dot (.) or comma (,) to enter fractions.
Examples:
- 1000000
- 123,23
- 999.99999
Find and select your starting unit in field "unit". Some unit calculators have huge number of different units to select from - it's just how complicated our world is...
And... you got the result in the table below. You'll find several results for many different units - we show you all results we know at once. Just find the one you're looking for.

Tags and links to this website#

Tags:

length · length_units_converter

Tags to Polish version:

dlugosc · metry · konwerter_jednostek_dlugosci

What tags this calculator has#

CONVERTER · UNITS · PHYSICS · A -> Z (all)

Permalink#

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https://calculla.com/length?inUnitId=m&inValue=$symbolic(1)&inPrecision=9

Links to external sites (leaving Calculla?)#

Ancient version of this site - links#

In December 2016 the Calculla website has been republished using new technologies and all calculators have been rewritten. Old version of the Calculla is still available through this link: v1.calculla.com. We left the version 1 of Calculla untouched for archival purposes.
Direct link to the old version: "Calculla v1" version of this calculator