Cubic Meters to Metric Cups (m³ to cup)

1 cubic meter equals 4,000 metric cups exactly.

1 cubic meter = 4,000 metric cups

How to convert cubic meters to metric cups

To convert cubic meters to metric cups, multiply the number of cubic meters by 4,000. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply metric cups by 0.00025.

metric cups = cubic meters × 4,000

Example: 10 cubic meters = 40,000 metric cups.

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

Metric Cup (cup)

Cooking & barCurrent unit

Exactly 250 mL. The cup used in Australia, New Zealand and most Commonwealth recipes.

A metric cup is a cup tamed by decimal thinking. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and some other former British colonies that metricated use a round 250 milliliters, exactly a quarter of a liter. Canada's older cup had been eight imperial fluid ounces, about 227.3 mL, so the metric version is noticeably larger, and Canadian recipes now usually use the 250 mL cup.

The metric cup is not an SI unit, only a practical convention, and it differs from the US cups in useful ways. It is about 6 percent larger than the US customary cup at 236.6 mL and about 4 percent larger than the 240 mL US label cup. Its arithmetic is simple: four cups make a liter, and a cup holds 50 metric teaspoons or 16 and two thirds tablespoons of 15 mL. Many recipes outside the US skip cups entirely and give dry ingredients in grams, because volume is a rough proxy for flour.

1 metric cup = 0.25 liters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Metric cup; Wikipedia: Cup (unit)

Related conversions

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