Cubic Inches to Cubic Meters (in³ to m³)

1 cubic inch equals 0.000016387064 cubic meters exactly.

1 cubic inch = 0.000016387064 cubic meters

How to convert cubic inches to cubic meters

To convert cubic inches to cubic meters, multiply the number of cubic inches by 0.000016387064. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply cubic meters by 61,023.74409 (rounded).

cubic meters = cubic inches × 0.000016387064

Example: 10 cubic inches = 0.00016387064 cubic meters.

Pints, quarts, gallons and fluid ounces differ between the US and the UK. Units are labeled 'US' or 'imperial' to avoid confusion.

About these units

Cubic Inch (in³)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

Exactly 16.387064 mL. Used for engine displacement in the US and for small mechanical parts.

Cubic inch is a unit defined by a ruler. Take an inch, build a cube, and its volume is exactly 16.387064 milliliters under the modern definition of the inch as 25.4 millimeters. Its main role in history is as the building block behind other US volumes: the US gallon is defined as 231 cubic inches, so a cubic inch is exactly 1/231 of a gallon. Even the 42-gallon oil barrel works out to precisely 9,702 of them.

The cubic inch survives most visibly in American engines, which are abbreviated c.i.d. for cubic inch displacement, while the rest of the world and many modern automakers speak in liters. A 5.7 liter engine is about 350 cubic inches, a conversion made easy by the exact factor of 16.387064. Small mechanical parts are also sized in cubic inches in North America.

1 cubic inch = 0.016387064 liters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Cubic inch; NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8: conversion factors for volume

Cubic Meter (m³)

Metric (SI)Current unit

The SI derived unit of volume: 1,000 liters. Used for water supply, gas, concrete and shipping space.

When the metric system was set up, the cube whose edge is one meter became its natural large unit of volume. A cubic meter also went by other names: kiloliter, now rarely used, and stere, still applied to stacked firewood. In modern SI it is the coherent derived unit of volume, and the liter is a convenience unit defined from it as one thousandth of a cubic meter.

A cubic meter is large by everyday standards. It holds 1,000 liters, and pure water at its densest weighs almost exactly one tonne in that space, which is how the metric tonne and the cubic meter ended up so conveniently paired. It is the unit of choice for water supply, gas, timber, concrete and shipping space, where freight is often quoted in CBM. For a picture, about 6.29 oil barrels or 264 US gallons fit in one, and an Olympic swimming pool, at least 2 meters deep, holds roughly 2,500 of them.

1 cubic meter = 1,000 liters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Cubic metre; Wikipedia: Olympic-size swimming pool; NIST Guide to the SI, Chapter 5: units outside the SI

Related conversions

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