US Cups to Metric Cups (cup to cup)
1 US cup equals 0.946352946 metric cups exactly.
How to convert US cups to metric cups
To convert US cups to metric cups, multiply the number of US cups by 0.946352946. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply metric cups by 1.056688209 (rounded).
metric cups = US cups × 0.946352946
Example: 10 US cups = 9.46352946 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
US Cup (cup)
One sixteenth of a US gallon, 236.588 mL (8 US fluid ounces). The standard US recipe cup.
Cups began as household drinking vessels, not scientific units, which is why they remain the messiest measures in the kitchen. The US customary cup was defined by slicing up the gallon: half a pint, or eight US fluid ounces, about 236.6 milliliters. Unlike the larger units, nobody ever fixed it to a physical vessel, so it exists only as a fraction of the gallon.
The customary cup is not the only American cup. For nutrition labels, US regulation defines a cup as exactly 240 milliliters, a rounder figure that sits slightly above the customary size. Packaged foods therefore list a serving in the legal cup while a measuring cup from the hardware store follows the customary definition. The gap is 3.4 milliliters, which hardly matters for soup but can matter in baking. Cup measures also hide the weight of dry ingredients, since a cup of sifted flour and a cup of packed flour differ substantially, which is why much of the world prefers grams.
1 US cup = 0.2365882365 liters (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Cup (unit); NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8: conversion factors for volume; 21 CFR 101.9: nutrition labeling household measures
Metric Cup (cup)
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
- Metric cups to US cups (reverse)
- US cups to liters
- US cups to milliliters
- US cups to US gallons
- US cups to US fluid ounces
- US cups to cubic meters
- US cups to cubic centimeters
- US cups to US quarts
- US cups to US pints
- US cups to US tablespoons
- US cups to US teaspoons
- US cups to metric tablespoons
- US cups to metric teaspoons
- Liters to metric cups
- Milliliters to metric cups
- US gallons to metric cups
- US fluid ounces to metric cups
- Cubic meters to metric cups
- Cubic centimeters to metric cups
- US quarts to metric cups
- US pints to metric cups
- US tablespoons to metric cups
- US teaspoons to metric cups
- Metric tablespoons to metric cups
- Metric teaspoons to metric cups
See all volume units.