Meter to Foot
Convert meter (m) to foot (ft) instantly. Great for recipes, DIY projects and height conversions.
Meter → Foot
3.2808
ft
1 m = 3.2808 ft
Frequently asked questions
Exactly 3.280839895 feet, usually rounded to 3.28. The relationship is a definition rather than a measurement — since 1959 the international foot has been defined as exactly 0.3048 metres — so the conversion carries no inherent error.
Convert to decimal feet first, then multiply the fractional part by 12 to get inches. 1.75 m is 5.7415 ft, so 5 feet plus 0.7415 × 12 = 8.9 inches, giving about 5 feet 9 inches. Reading 5.74 ft as 5 feet 7 inches is the common error — the decimal is a fraction of a foot, not a count of inches.
Convention rather than regulation. Building plans, sale deeds and land records in India are in metres and square metres, but marketing material, brokers and buyers have long used feet and square feet. The result is that both units appear in the same transaction, which is why converting between them is a routine step when checking a brochure against the registered documents.
One metre is 3.28084 feet, exactly
A metre converts to 3.280839895 feet. The factor is exact rather than approximate, because since 1959 the international foot has been *defined* as exactly 0.3048 metres — so the relationship is a matter of definition, not measurement.
Feet = metres × 3.28084
Before that agreement, the US and the British Commonwealth used slightly different feet, differing by about two parts per million. The US retained its older "survey foot" for land surveying until it was officially retired at the end of 2022, which is why some historical US land records carry measurements that differ marginally from modern ones.
Where each unit is actually used
The metre is the SI base unit of length and the working unit of Indian construction, engineering, scientific work and almost all official measurement. Building plans, structural drawings, road distances and land records in India are metric.
The foot persists in specific niches even within metric countries. In India, real estate is the notable one — apartment areas are quoted in square feet almost universally, ceiling heights are discussed in feet, and plot dimensions are frequently given in feet even where the sale deed records metres. Aviation also uses feet for altitude worldwide, including in Indian airspace, for international interoperability.
So a converted figure often moves between two contexts rather than two countries: the architect works in metres, the brochure quotes square feet, and the buyer needs both.
Common values
- 1 m = 3.28 ft
- 1.5 m = 4.92 ft
- 1.8 m = 5.91 ft (roughly 5 ft 11 in)
- 2 m = 6.56 ft
- 3 m = 9.84 ft — a typical floor-to-floor height
- 10 m = 32.81 ft
- 100 m = 328.08 ft
Feet and inches
Converting to a decimal figure in feet is rarely what you want for a height. To reach feet and inches:
Take the whole number of feet, then multiply the decimal remainder by 12.
1.75 m = 5.7415 ft. The whole part is 5 feet; 0.7415 × 12 = 8.9 inches. So roughly 5 feet 9 inches.
The classic error is reading 5.74 ft as "5 feet 7 inches" — the decimal part is a fraction of a foot, not a count of inches, and treating it as inches understates by a wide margin.
A mental approximation
Multiply by 3 and add 10% of the result. For 20 metres: 3 × 20 = 60, plus 6 = 66 feet. The exact answer is 65.6 — close enough to sanity-check a figure without a calculator.
FAQ-worthy detail: why 0.3048
The number looks arbitrary and is the product of a compromise. The international yard was fixed at exactly 0.9144 metres in the 1959 agreement between the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and a foot is a third of a yard — giving exactly 0.3048 m. The value was chosen to sit between the slightly differing national standards then in use, so no country's existing measurements shifted materially.