Cubic Meters to Cubic Yards (m³ to yd³)

1 cubic meter equals 1.307950619 cubic yards (rounded).

1 cubic meter = 1.307950619 cubic yards

How to convert cubic meters to cubic yards

To convert cubic meters to cubic yards, multiply the number of cubic meters by 1.307950619. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply cubic yards by 0.764554858 (rounded).

cubic yards = cubic meters × 1.307950619

Example: 10 cubic meters = 13.07950619 cubic yards.

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 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

Cubic Yard (yd³)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

27 cubic feet or 764.555 liters. Used for soil, gravel and concrete in the US.

Cubic yard is a cube three feet on each side, which makes it exactly 27 cubic feet or 46,656 cubic inches. In metric terms it is about 0.7646 cubic meters, or 764.55 liters. The unit follows the yard in the United States and Canada, and British railways once rated ballast wagons by it, with one Great Western Railway wagon holding 8 cubic yards.

A cubic yard is easier to picture than the number suggests. It holds about 202 US gallons, or nearly five oil barrels. That is a scale where bulk materials such as soil, gravel, mulch and concrete are naturally counted, so a patio slab or garden bed needs a handful of them. A handy rule of thumb follows from the arithmetic: one cubic yard spread one inch deep covers 324 square feet.

1 cubic yard = 764.554858 liters (approximately).

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

Related conversions

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