How the area converter works
An area converter changes a surface measurement from one unit to another, such as square meters to square feet or acres to hectares. Enter a value, choose the From and To units, and press Convert. Each unit goes through the square meter using an exact factor, and the result is shown to up to 8 decimal places with trailing zeros removed.
The Swap button switches the From and To units. Press Convert again afterwards to update the answer.
Exact conversion factors
Every area unit is a length unit squared, so the factors come straight from the length definitions. Since 1959 the foot has been exactly 0.3048 m, which makes the square foot exactly 0.3048² = 0.09290304 m². NIST SP 811 lists these factors, and the meter itself is defined in the BIPM SI Brochure.
| Unit | Symbol | In square meters |
|---|---|---|
| Square kilometer | km² | 1,000,000 |
| Hectare | ha | 10,000 |
| Square meter | m² | 1 |
| Square centimeter | cm² | 0.0001 |
| Square mile | mi² | 2,589,988.110336 |
| Acre | ac | 4,046.8564224 |
| Square yard | yd² | 0.83612736 |
| Square foot | ft² | 0.09290304 |
| Square inch | in² | 0.00064516 |
A few relationships that follow from these: 1 ha = 100 m × 100 m, 1 km² = 100 ha, 1 ac = 43,560 ft², 1 mi² = 640 ac, 1 yd² = 9 ft², and 1 ft² = 144 in². The converter returns each of those as a whole number.
Quick reference
| From | To | Multiply by |
|---|---|---|
| square meters | square feet | 10.7639 |
| square feet | square meters | 0.09290304 |
| square meters | square yards | 1.19599 |
| hectares | acres | 2.47105 |
| acres | hectares | 0.404686 |
| acres | square feet | 43,560 |
| square kilometers | square miles | 0.386102 |
| square feet | square centimeters | 929.0304 |
Worked examples
- A 1,500 ft² apartment in square meters: 1,500 × 0.09290304 = 139.35456 m².
- A 12 m² bedroom in square feet: 12 ÷ 0.09290304 = 129.166925 ft², about 129 ft².
- A 5-acre plot in hectares: 5 × 4,046.8564224 ÷ 10,000 = 2.02342821 ha.
- A 20 ft × 15 ft room: multiply first, 20 × 15 = 300 ft², then convert: 300 × 0.09290304 = 27.87 m².
The last example is the safe order of operations. Multiply the two measured sides in the same unit, then convert the area once. If you'd rather work out the floor area from room dimensions directly, the room calculator does it.
Squared factors catch people out
The most common area mistake is using a length factor. A meter is 3.28 feet, but a square meter is 3.28 × 3.28 ≈ 10.76 square feet, because both sides of the square get converted. The same applies the other way: a square foot is 0.3048 × 0.3048 of a square meter, not 0.3048. If you have lengths in mixed units, convert them with the length converter before multiplying.
Land units
Hectares and acres are the usual units for land. The hectare is metric (a square 100 m on each side) and is used for farmland and property in most of the world. The acre survives in the US, UK and some Commonwealth countries for property and farm sizes. An acre doesn't correspond to a square with a round side length (the side would be about 208.7 ft). It was historically a strip 1 furlong by 1 chain (660 ft × 66 ft), which still multiplies out to exactly 43,560 ft².
Many regions also use local land units (marla, kanal, bigha, guntha, tsubo, and others) whose sizes vary by country and sometimes by district. They aren't in this converter. Find the official square-meter or square-foot size for your area, enter that, and convert.
Related pages
- Tile calculator: how many tiles cover a floor or wall area.
- Paint calculator: paint needed for a given wall area.
- Volume converter: cubic meters, cubic feet, liters and gallons.
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