Convert Inches to Meters
1 inch is 0.03 m. One inch is exactly 0.0254 meters.
One inch is 0.0254 meters. To convert inches to meters, multiply by 0.0254; to go the other way, divide by 0.0254 or multiply by 39.370079. The factor is exact rather than rounded: it follows from NIST. Exactly 25.4 millimeters since the 1959 international yard and pound agreement, and one twelfth of a foot.
Factor checked against the defining standard · How we check
- Inches × 0.0254
1 * 0.02540.025 m
1 inch in every length unit
| Unit | Value | Exact factor |
|---|---|---|
| inches (as entered) | 1 in | — |
| feet | 0.08333333333 ft | × 0.0833333333333 |
| yards | 0.02777777778 yd | × 0.0277777777778 |
| miles | 0.00001578282828 mi | × 0.0000157828282828 |
| millimeters | 25.4 mm | × 25.4 |
| decimetres | 0.254 dm | × 0.254 |
| centimeters | 2.54 cm | × 2.54 |
| meters | 0.0254 m | × 0.0254 |
| kilometers | 0.0000254 km | × 0.0000254 |
| nautical miles | 0.00001371490281 nmi | × 0.0000137149028078 |
| micrometers | 25,400 µm | × 25,400 |
| nanometers | 25,400,000 nm | × 25,400,000 |
| thou | 1,000 thou | × 1,000 |
Factors are entered by hand from NIST rather than derived from a units library, so the ones that terminate are exact rather than rounded.
The same converter answers this pair however it is written: inches to metres is the British spelling of the same units — the metre and the litre are spelled that way outside the United States and the quantity does not change.
How do you convert inches to meters? The converter and the working
- 1.Take the measurement in inches.
- 2.Multiply by 0.0254 — that is how many meters fit in one inch.
- 3.To go back the other way, divide by 0.0254, or multiply by 39.370079.
Worked example: 25 inches to meters
- Formula
- in × 0.0254 = m
- Arithmetic
- 25 × 0.0254 = 0.64 m
- Answer
- 25 in = 0.64 m
The factor is exact, so this figure is exact too — only the display is rounded.
Inches to meters conversion table
| Inches | Meters |
|---|---|
| 1 in | 0.03 m |
| 2 in | 0.05 m |
| 3 in | 0.08 m |
| 4 in | 0.1 m |
| 5 in | 0.13 m |
| 6 in | 0.15 m |
| 7 in | 0.18 m |
| 8 in | 0.2 m |
| 9 in | 0.23 m |
| 10 in | 0.25 m |
| 12 in | 0.3 m |
| 15 in | 0.38 m |
| 20 in | 0.51 m |
| 25 in | 0.64 m |
| 50 in | 1.27 m |
| 100 in | 2.54 m |
| 200 in | 5.08 m |
| 300 in | 7.62 m |
| 500 in | 12.7 m |
| 1000 in | 25.4 m |
| 2000 in | 50.8 m |
| 5000 in | 127 m |
| 10000 in | 254 m |
The inch has been exactly 25.4 mm only since 1959
Before the International Yard and Pound Agreement of 1 July 1959 the US inch and the British inch differed in the sixth decimal place, and the US inch was defined off the meter as 1/39.37 of it. The agreement made the inch exactly 25.4 mm everywhere. Land surveying kept the old definition as the survey foot until NIST retired it at the end of 2022, which is why a distance quoted in survey feet still differs from the same distance in international feet by about 2 ppm — a foot every hundred miles.
NIST — Refinement of values for the yard and the pound (Federal Register notice, 1959)
What is an inch?
Exactly 25.4 millimeters since the 1959 international yard and pound agreement, and one twelfth of a foot.
What is a meter?
The SI base unit, defined since 1983 by the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
How many meters are in an inch?
One inch is 0.0254 meters, exactly. Going the other way, one meter is 39.370079 inches. Both figures come from the same defined relation rather than from a measurement, which is why they are the same today as they were in 1959.
Every length unit here
The whole group — 13 units with their symbols and the size of each one in meters — is on the conversion index, along with every pair it makes. The table above already gives each of them relative to an inch.
Source: NIST — international yard and pound agreement (inch = 25.4 mm exactly)
Cite this page
- APA
- Rule Calculator. (2026). Convert Inches to meters. Rule Calculator. https://rulecalculators.com/convert/inch-to-meter
- MLA
- "Convert Inches to meters." Rule Calculator, August 16, 2026, https://rulecalculators.com/convert/inch-to-meter.
- Chicago
- Rule Calculator. "Convert Inches to meters." Rule Calculator. Last reviewed August 16, 2026. https://rulecalculators.com/convert/inch-to-meter.
The date is when the figures on this page were last checked against their source, not the day you opened it. Add your own access date if your style needs one.
Questions people actually ask
- How many meters are in an inch?
- 0.0254. The SI base unit, defined since 1983 by the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
- How do I convert meters back to inches?
- Divide by 0.0254, or multiply by 39.370079 — they are the same operation.
The values people look up
Each one is this page with the value filled in, and each answers in its own title.
Other length conversions
Meters to inches — the same conversion the other way.