Liter to Gallon (US)
Convert liter (L) to gallon (us) (gal) instantly. Useful for cooking and beverage measures.
Liter → Gallon (US)
0.264172
gal
1 L = 0.264172 gal
Frequently asked questions
Both, depending on the system. The US liquid gallon is 3.785412 litres and the imperial gallon is 4.54609 litres — the imperial one is about 20% larger. The split dates from 1824, when Britain redefined its gallon while the US retained the older English wine gallon. Any figure in gallons is incomplete without saying which.
Use the right gallon, because the difference is about 20%. Thirty US mpg is 12.75 km/L; thirty imperial mpg is 10.62 km/L. American reviews mean the US gallon and British ones the imperial, so the same headline figure describes meaningfully different efficiencies.
No. Fuel, milk, water and every commercial liquid measure in India is metric, so the gallon appears only when reading foreign material. For local reference: a water tanker is commonly 5,000 or 10,000 litres, a domestic overhead tank 500 to 1,000 litres, and a car fuel tank 35 to 60 litres.
Which gallon, though
A litre is 0.2199692 imperial gallons or 0.2641721 US gallons — and the two differ by about 20%, which makes "gallons" an ambiguous unit unless the system is stated.
Imperial gallon = 4.54609 litres. Used in the UK and some Commonwealth contexts.
US liquid gallon = 3.785412 litres. Used in the United States.
The imperial gallon is roughly a fifth larger. Any figure quoted in gallons without specifying which is incomplete, and the error from guessing wrong is large enough to matter for fuel, cost and capacity calculations.
Why the difference exists
The US retained the older English wine gallon of 231 cubic inches when it gained independence. Britain then redefined its gallon in 1824 as the volume of ten pounds of water, producing the imperial gallon of 4.54609 litres. The two systems diverged and never reconverged.
The same split affects every derived unit: a US pint is 473 ml, an imperial pint 568 ml; a US fluid ounce is 29.574 ml, an imperial one 28.413 ml.
Where the conversion matters
Fuel economy. This is the big one, and it produces a 20% error if the wrong gallon is used:
- 30 US mpg = 12.75 km/L
- 30 imperial mpg = 10.62 km/L
An American car review quoting 30 mpg and a British one quoting 30 mpg describe meaningfully different efficiencies. American sources mean the US gallon; British sources mean the imperial one.
Recipes, where American measures dominate online. A US quart is 946 ml; an imperial quart is 1,137 ml.
Container and tank capacities in imported equipment.
Water usage figures in American environmental content.
Common values
To US gallons:
- 1 L = 0.264 gal
- 5 L = 1.32 gal
- 10 L = 2.64 gal
- 20 L = 5.28 gal
- 50 L = 13.21 gal
To imperial gallons:
- 1 L = 0.220 gal
- 5 L = 1.10 gal
- 10 L = 2.20 gal
- 20 L = 4.40 gal
- 50 L = 11.00 gal
India uses litres throughout
Fuel, milk, water, beverages and every commercial liquid measure in India is metric. The gallon appears only when reading foreign material, which is why the conversion is almost always inbound.
A useful reference for Indian contexts: a standard water tanker is commonly 5,000 or 10,000 litres; a domestic overhead tank 500 to 1,000 litres; and a car fuel tank 35 to 60 litres.