Conversion of Physical Quantities: Length Measu

Handy Converter for Units of Length — Why It’s Useful and Interesting?

We often face situations in our daily lives where we need to convert one unit of length into another. This happens quite frequently when reading instructions, studying maps, doing construction or repair works, engaging in sports, and so much more. Our website offers a simple yet accurate tool for fast conversion of any units of length.

Why Do We Need Length Unit Conversion?

Travel & Navigation: To understand distances properly and navigate unfamiliar territories, it’s helpful to know how to quickly convert kilometers to miles and vice versa.

Construction & Renovation: Working with blueprints, schematic drawings, buying materials requires knowing how to translate meters into feet or inches.

Sports & Tourism: It’s important to accurately calculate running routes, cycling paths, mountain climbing trails, and waterways.

Education & Science: Without understanding the basics of length measurement, it would be impossible to study subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, etc.

Where Did Names of Length Units Come From?

Metric System: Originated in France in the late 18th century based on decimal system principles. Its base unit, the meter, was initially chosen according to Earth’s dimensions but later became the international standard.

Foot & Inch: These terms come from medieval England and were historically derived from human body parts. “Foot” literally means “foot,” and originally, an inch equaled the width of an adult man’s thumb.

Kilometer: Created by French scientists, it stands for one thousand meters and has become universally accepted worldwide thanks to its simplicity and practicality.

Are There Any Other Types of Length Measurements?

Besides well-known units like meters, feet, and kilometers, there are less-common historical or exotic ones:

• Yard: About three feet long, formerly used in Britain and America.
• Nautical Mile: Used primarily in navigation and aviation, equivalent to approximately 1,852 meters.
• Verst: An old Russian measure roughly equal to 1.06 km.
• Cubit: Ancient Slavic unit approximating the distance from elbow to fingertip.

Our online calculator will help clarify the variety of available units and simplify working with them. Try using our service right now!

Unit of Measurement	Symbol	Relation to Meter	Notes
Millimeter	mm	1 mm=0.001 m1mm=0.001m	One-thousandth part of a meter
Centimeter	cm	1 cm=0.01 m1cm=0.01m	One-hundredth part of a meter
Decimeter	dm	1 dm=0.1 m1dm=0.1m	One-tenth part of a meter
Meter	m	1 m=1 m1m=1m	Base unit of length in SI
Kilometer	km	1 km=1 000 m1km=1000m	Equals to one thousand meters
English inch	in	1 in≈0.0254 m1in≈0.0254m	Commonly used in English-speaking countries
English foot	ft	1 ft≈0.3048 m1ft≈0.3048m	Consists of twelve inches (1 ft=12 in1ft=12in)
English yard	yd	1 yd≈0.9144 m1yd≈0.9144m	Three feet long (1 yd=3 ft1yd=3ft)
English mile	mi	1 mi≈1 609.34 m1mi≈1609.34m	Widely used in USA and certain English-speaking regions (“mile”)
Nautical mile	nmi	1 nmi≈1 852 m1nmi≈1852m	Mainly used in maritime and air navigation
Light second	ls	1 ls≈299 792 458 m1ls≈299792458m	Distance light travels in one second
Astronomical unit	au	1 au≈149 597 870 700 m1au≈149597870700m	Average distance from Earth to Sun
Parsec	pc	1 pc≈3.0857×1016 m1pc≈3.0857×1016m	Used in astronomy to measure vast cosmic distances
League (nautical league)	lge	1 lge≈5 556 m1lge≈5556m	Historically used for sea distances
Furlong	fur	1 fur≈201.168 m1fur≈201.168m	Old British measure mainly applied in agriculture
Vara (English vara)	vr	1 vr≈0.9144 m1vr≈0.9144m	Another historic term for yard (1 yrd=1 vr1yrd=1vr)
Versta (Russian versta)	верст	1 верст≈1 066.8 m1верст≈1066.8m	Former Russian measure before metric system introduction
Arshin	arshins	1 арш≈73(≈0.711) m1арш≈37​(≈0.711)m	Historical Russian measure used until early 20th century
Line	lines	1 лин≈112 дюйм≈0.002117 m1лин≈121​дюйм≈0.002117m	Obsolete small unit mostly found in older documents
Finger	fingers	1 палец≈116 дюйм≈0.001592 m1палец≈161​дюйм≈0.001592m	Very small obsolete unit almost unused today

Most Frequently Asked Questions about Length Measurements