Centimeter to Inch
Convert centimeter (cm) to inch (in) instantly. Switch between metric and imperial in a tap.
Centimeter → Inch
0.393701
in
1 cm = 0.393701 in
Frequently asked questions
0.393701 inches. An inch is defined as exactly 2.54 centimetres, so converting is a simple division by 2.54 with no rounding error.
Divide by 2.54 to get total inches, then divide that by 12 to get feet with a remainder. 170 cm is 66.93 inches, which is 5 feet with 6.93 inches remaining — about 5 feet 7 inches. Skipping the second step leaves you with a figure nobody states a height in.
No — that is the diagonal. Screen sizes are always quoted as the diagonal measurement of the display. A 55-inch 16:9 television is about 121.8 cm wide and 68.5 cm high, so if you are measuring a space, measure against the width and add a few centimetres for the bezel and stand.
Divide by 2.54, exactly
A centimetre is 0.393701 inches, because an inch is defined as exactly 2.54 centimetres.
Inches = centimetres ÷ 2.54
That definition dates from the 1959 international yard and pound agreement and is exact, which makes this one of the cleanest conversions in everyday use — 2.54 is easy to remember and the arithmetic is simple division.
Where the two units meet
India measures in centimetres for almost everything official — height on documents, medical records, clothing manufacture, stationery and school geometry. Inches persist in specific commercial contexts, and those are exactly where this conversion is needed:
Screen sizes. Televisions, monitors, laptops and phones are sold by diagonal inches worldwide. A 55-inch television is 139.7 cm diagonally, which matters when checking whether it fits a wall unit measured in centimetres.
Clothing. Waist and chest sizes in Indian retail are frequently in inches while body measurements are taken in centimetres. A 32-inch waist is 81.3 cm.
Plumbing and hardware. Pipe diameters, bolt sizes and threading standards remain imperial across much of the Indian supply chain.
Photography and printing — paper sizes, sensor formats and print dimensions.
Common values
- 1 cm = 0.39 in
- 2.54 cm = 1 in exactly
- 10 cm = 3.94 in
- 30 cm = 11.81 in — close to a foot
- 100 cm = 39.37 in
- 152 cm = 59.84 in (5 ft)
- 170 cm = 66.93 in (5 ft 7 in)
- 180 cm = 70.87 in (5 ft 11 in)
Converting a height properly
For a height, the useful output is feet and inches rather than a decimal number of inches.
170 cm: 170 ÷ 2.54 = 66.93 inches. Divide by 12 to get feet: 66.93 ÷ 12 = 5 with a remainder of 6.93. So 5 feet 7 inches, rounding the remainder.
Two steps, and skipping the second is the usual mistake — 66.93 inches is correct but nobody states a height that way.
Screen size is diagonal, not width
A frequent and expensive misunderstanding when buying a television. The inch figure is the diagonal of the display, so a 55-inch 16:9 screen is about 121.8 cm wide and 68.5 cm high — considerably narrower than 139.7 cm.
If you are measuring a space, measure against the width, and add a few centimetres for the bezel and any stand.
Paper sizes run the other way
One area where metric is the standard and inches are the conversion: paper. The ISO A series is defined in millimetres, and its proportions are deliberate — each size is exactly half the previous one, preserving an aspect ratio of √2.
- A4 — 210 × 297 mm = 8.27 × 11.69 in
- A3 — 297 × 420 mm = 11.69 × 16.54 in
- A5 — 148 × 210 mm = 5.83 × 8.27 in
The American Letter size of 8.5 × 11 inches (215.9 × 279.4 mm) is wider and shorter than A4, which is why documents formatted for one print awkwardly on the other — content is clipped at the sides or leaves an unexpected margin at the foot. India uses A4 throughout, so a document received from a US source usually needs its page size changed rather than merely scaled.