What Is the Cups to Liters Converter?
This tool converts a volume measured in US customary cups into liters (and milliliters). It is handy for following recipes from different regions, scaling batches, or converting nutrition and lab measurements. The conversion is based on the US legal cup, where one cup equals 236.588 milliliters, or 0.236588 liters.
How to Use It
Enter the number of cups you want to convert into the input field and submit. The calculator returns the equivalent volume in liters as the main result, plus the value in milliliters for finer measurements. You can use whole numbers or decimals (for example, 1.5 cups).
The Formula Explained
The conversion uses a single fixed factor:
$$\text{Liters} = \text{Cups} \times 0.236588$$This factor comes from the definition of the US customary cup as 236.588 milliliters. Since one liter contains 1,000 milliliters, dividing 236.588 by 1,000 gives the per-cup liter value of 0.236588. To get milliliters instead, simply multiply the liter result by 1,000.
Worked Example
Suppose a recipe calls for 4 cups of broth and you want the metric amount. Multiply: $$4 \times 0.236588 = 0.946352 \text{ liters}$$ which is about 0.95 L or 946.35 mL. So 4 US cups is just under one liter.
FAQ
Does this use US or metric cups? It uses the US customary cup (236.588 mL). The metric cup is exactly 250 mL and the UK imperial cup is about 284 mL, so results will differ slightly for those standards.
How many cups are in one liter? About 4.227 US cups make up one liter (\(1 \div 0.236588\)).
Can I convert fractions of a cup? Yes. Enter decimals such as 0.5 or 0.75 to convert partial cups.
