How to Convert Liters to Meters Cubed

Liters often measure liquids.

Meters cubed, sometimes referred to as cubic meters, and liters both measure volume in the metric system. A liter originally measured the volume of 1 kilogram of water. In 1964, the liter was officially changed to 0.001 cubic meters. You can calculate cubic meters by multiplying the length, width and height of a container. Converting between liters and cubic meters is easy if you know the conversion factor.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

Instructions

1. Divide the number of liters by 1,000 to convert to meters cubed. For example, if you have 3,400 liters, divide 3,400 by 1,000 to get 3.4 meters cubed.

2. Multiply the number of liters by 0.001 to verify your answer. In this example, multiply 3,400 liters by 0.001 to get 3.4 meters cubed.

3. Check your answer using an online calculator (see Resources).

References

• Colorado State University: Commonly Used metric System Units, Symbols, and Prefixes
• University of North Carolina: Units: L

Resources

• Metric Conversions: Liters to Cubic Meters Conversion