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

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

 Value Unit yottameter [Ym]zettameter [Zm]exameter [Em]petameter [Pm]terameter [Tm]gigameter [Gm]megameter [Mm]kilometer [km]hektometer [hm]meter [m]decimeter [dm]centimeter [cm]milimeter [mm]micrometre (micron) [µm]nanometer [nm]pikometer [pm]femtometer [fm]attometer [am]zeptometer [zm]yoctometer [ym]statute leaguemile [mi]furlong [fur]surveyor's chain [ch]engineer's chain [ch]rod [rd]fathom [fm]yard [yd]foot [ft]link [li]handinch [in]lineparsec [pc]light year [ly]light minutelight secondastronomical unit [au]sea leaguesea mile [nmi]sea cabelbritish cabelUS cabelangstrom [Å] Decimals 0123456789

# SI (metric)

 Unit Symbol Symbol(plain text) Value Notes yottameter Show source$Ym$ Ym 1×10-24 Derived length unit in SI system. One yottameter is equal to septylion of meters: $1\ Ym= 10^{24}\ m$ zettameter Show source$Zm$ Zm 1×10-21 Derived length unit in SI system. One zettameter is equal to sextillion of meters: $1\ Zm= 10^{21}\ m$ exameter Show source$Em$ Em 1×10-18 Derived length unit in SI system. One exameter is equal to quintillion of meters: $1\ Em= 10^{18}\ m$ petameter Show source$Pm$ Pm 1×10-15 Derived length unit in SI system. One petameter is equal to quadrillion of meters: $1\ Pm= 10^{15}\ m$ terameter Show source$Tm$ Tm 1×10-12 Derived length unit in SI system. One terameter is equal to trillion of meters: $1\ Tm= 10^{12}\ m$ gigameter Show source$Gm$ Gm 1×10-9 Derived length unit in SI system. One gigameter is equal to billion of meters: $1\ Gm= 10^{9}\ m$ megameter Show source$Mm$ Mm 0.000001 Derived length unit in SI system. One megameter is equal to million of meters: $1\ Mm=1000000\ m= 10^{6}\ m$ kilometer Show source$km$ km 0.001 Derived length unit in SI system. One kilometer is equal to thausand of meters: $1\ km=1000\ m= 10^{3}\ m$ hektometer Show source$hm$ hm 0.01 Derived length unit in SI system. One hektometer is equal to hundred of meters: $1\ hm=100\ m= 10^{2}\ m$ meter Show source$m$ m 1 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..$1\ m = \frac{9192631770\ c}{299792458\ \Delta \nu_{Cs}}$ decimeter Show source$dm$ dm 10 Derived length unit in SI system. One decimeter is equal to one tenth of meter: $1\ dm=0.1\ m= 10^{-1}\ m$ centimeter Show source$cm$ cm 100 Derived length unit in SI system. One centimeter is equal to one hundredth of meter: $1\ cm=0.01\ m= 10^{-2}\ m$ milimeter Show source$mm$ mm 1000 Derived length unit in SI system. One milimeter is equal to one thousandth of meter: $1\ mm=0.001\ m= 10^{-3}\ m$ micrometre (micron) Show source$\mu m$ µm 1000000 Derived length unit in SI system. One micrometre (micron) is equal to one millionth of meter: $1\ \mu m=0.000001\ m= 10^{-6}\ m$ nanometer Show source$nm$ nm 1000000000 Derived length unit in SI system. One nanometer is equal to one billionth of meter: $1\ nm= 10^{-9}\ m$ pikometer Show source$pm$ pm 1×1012 Derived length unit in SI system. One pikometer is equal to one trillionth of meter: $1\ pm= 10^{-12}\ m$ femtometer Show source$fm$ fm 1×1015 Derived length unit in SI system. One femtometer is equal to one quadrillionth of meter: $1\ fm= 10^{-15}\ m$ attometer Show source$am$ am 1×1018 Derived length unit in SI system. One attometer is equal to one quintillionth of meter: $1\ am= 10^{-18}\ m$ zeptometer Show source$zm$ zm 1×1021 Derived length unit in SI system. One zeptometer is equal to one sextillionth of meter: $1\ zm= 10^{-21}\ m$ yoctometer Show source$ym$ ym 1×1024 Derived length unit in SI system. One yoctometer is equal to one septillionth of meter: $1\ ym= 10^{-24}\ m$

# British-american

 Unit Symbol Symbol(plain text) Value Notes statute league Show source$-$ - 0.000207124 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).$1\ \text {statute league} = 3\ mi$ mile Show source$mi$ mi 0.000621371 Imperial length unit. One mile is equal to 1760 yards or 5280 feet.$1\ mi = 1760\ yd = 5280\ ft$ furlong Show source$fur$ fur 0.00497097 Historic length unit used in Anglo-Saxon countries. One furlong corresponds to one eighth of mile (1/8 mi).$1\ fu = \frac{1}{8}\ mi$ surveyor's chain Show source$ch$ ch 0.049709695 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.$1\ ch\ = 66\ ft$ engineer's chain Show source$ch$ ch 0.032808399 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.$1\ ch\ = 100\ ft$ rod Show source$rd$ rd 0.198838782 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.$1\ rd = 5 \frac{1}{2}\ yd$ fathom Show source$fm$ fm 0.546806649 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).$1\ fm = 6\ ft$ yard Show source$yd$ yd 1.093613298 Unit of length used in Anglo-Saxon countries. One yard corresponds to three feet (3 ft). See unit rate for more information.$1\ yd = 3\ ft$ foot Show source$ft$ ft 3.280839895 Unit of length used in Anglo-Saxon countries. One foot corresponds to twelve inches (12 in). See the unit inch for more information.$1\ ft = 12\ in$ link Show source$li$ li 4.970969538 Equivalent to one hundredth of a survey's chain.$1\ li = \frac{1}{100}\ ch$ hand Show source$-$ - 13.440860215 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.$1\ \text{hand} = 7.44\ cm$ inch Show source$in$ in 39.37007874 An Anglo-Saxon unit of length defined historically as three times the average length of barley grain, i.e. about 2.54 centimeters.$1\ in = 2.54\ cm$ line Show source$-$ - 472.440944882 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).$1\ \text{line} = \frac{1}{10}\ in$

# Astronomical

 Unit Symbol Symbol(plain text) Value Notes parsec Show source$pc$ pc 3.240755744×10-17 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.$1\ pc = 3.2616\ ly$ light year Show source$ly$ ly 1.056970722×10-16 Distance unit used in astronomy. One light year corresponds to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year, i.e. about nine and a half trillion kilometers.$1\ ly = 9.4607 \times 10^{15}\ m$ light minute Show source$-$ - 5.559401735×10-11 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.$1\ lm = 60\ ls$ light second Show source$-$ - 3.335640952×10-9 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.$1\ ls = 2.99792458 \times 10^{8} m$ astronomical unit Show source$au$ au 6.684587154×10-12 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.$1\ au = 1.495978707 \times 10^{11} m$

# Nautical

 Unit Symbol Symbol(plain text) Value Notes sea league Show source$-$ - 0.000179986 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).$1\ \text{sea league} = 3\ mi = 5.556\ km$ sea mile Show source$nmi$ nmi 0.000539957 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.$1\ nmi = 1852\ m$ sea cabel Show source$-$ - 0.005399568 Equivalent to one-tenth of a nautical mile (1/10 mi). See nautical unit to learn more.$1\ \text{sea cabel} = \frac{1}{10}\ mi$ british cabel Show source$-$ - 0.005396118 Equivalent to a hundred fathoms (100 fm). See the fathom unit for more information.$1\ \text{british cabel} = 100\ fm$ US cabel Show source$-$ - 0.004556722 Equivalent to a hundred twenty fathoms (120 fm). See the fathom unit for more information.$1\ \text{US cabel} = 120\ fm$

# Chemistry and atomic physics

 Unit Symbol Symbol(plain text) Value Notes angstrom Show source$\text{Å}$ Å 10000000000 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).$1\ \text{Å} = \frac{1}{10}\ nm = 10^{-10}\ m$

# 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.

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