Cups to Liters (cups to L)

How to convert cups to liters

Multiply the cups by 0.2365882365:

L = cups × 0.2366

4 cups × 0.2366 = 0.946 L. The factor is exact: a U.S. cup is half a pint, 8 fluid ounces, and a gallon is 231 cubic inches, so a cup is 236.5882365 mL. The result also shows milliliters and quarts. To go the other way, see liters to cups.

Cups to liters chart

U.S., metric and UK cups

Most American recipes mean the customary cup. Nutrition labels round it to 240 mL. Recipes from Australia and New Zealand use a 250 mL cup, which is about a tablespoon more per cup; for most cooking that difference does not matter, but four metric cups hold 54 mL — almost 4 tablespoons — more than four U.S. cups, which can matter in baking. Old British recipes sometimes use a cup of half an imperial pint, 284 mL.

Liquids for big batches

Drinks, soups and stocks are easier to plan in liters: a pitcher of 8 cups of lemonade is 1.89 L, and a 2-liter soda bottle holds 8.45 cups. For party planning, a 12-cup batch of punch fills 2.84 L — a little less than three 1-liter bottles. To convert in quarts and gallons, see quarts to liters and gallons to liters; for milliliters on a measuring jug, cups to ounces gives fluid ounces, which many jugs show beside milliliters.

Converting a whole recipe

A recipe with several liquids — 2 cups of stock, 3/4 cup of cream, 1/3 cup of wine — converts in one go with Convert a list of values: paste the cup amounts one per line (0.75 and 0.333 for the fractions) and the CSV gives each in liters and milliliters, ready for a metric measuring jug. Round to the nearest 5 mL for jugs marked in 50 mL steps, or to the nearest 10 mL; the difference is under a teaspoon per cup.

Measuring by weight instead

Professional and European recipes often weigh dry ingredients rather than measuring them by the cup, because a cup of flour can weigh 120 to 150 grams depending on how it is filled. Liquids convert cleanly by volume — a cup of water or milk is 237 mL wherever you are — so use this converter for liquids, and a kitchen scale for flour and sugar. For weights, see grams to ounces.