Convert meters to feet
1 m = 3.28084 ft · Formula and table below. Converting the other way? Feet to Meters →
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Other units
- Meter (m) 1
- Kilometer (km) 0.001
- Decimeter (dm) 10
- Centimeter (cm) 100
- Millimeter (mm) 1000
- Micrometer (µm) 1,000,000
- Nanometer (nm) 1,000,000,000
- Mile (mi) 0.000621371
- Yard (yd) 1.093613
- Foot (ft) 3.28084
- Inch (in) 39.370079
- Nautical mile (nmi) 0.000539957
- Light year (ly) 1.057001×10⁻¹⁶
Height in feet and inches
5′ 10″ = 177.8 cm = 1.778 m
Type feet and inches, or centimeters — the other side updates as you type.
Reviewed on by the Skala Convert team
Multiply metres by 3.28084. One hundred metres is 328.1 feet.
How many feet in a meter?
ft = m × 3.28084
Rough version: multiply by 3 and add 10%. 10 m → 30 + 3 = 33 ft (true: 32.8).
Why do aircraft measure altitude in feet?
Aviation is one of the few fields where the whole world uses an imperial unit. Altitude is given in feet almost everywhere, and air traffic control assigns "flight levels" in hundreds of feet: FL350 is 35,000 ft, or 10,668 m. A handful of countries have used metre-based altitudes, and pilots crossing into their airspace convert on the fly — one of the reasons standardisation stuck to feet.
What happens when meters and feet are mixed up?
In 1999 NASA lost the Mars Climate Orbiter because one team's software produced thrust data in imperial units while another team's expected metric. The spacecraft approached Mars far too low and was destroyed. The mission cost more than 300 million dollars; the conversion factor was known to everyone involved.
Heights worth knowing
- Mount Everest — 8,849 m = 29,032 ft
- A 10 m diving platform = 32.8 ft
- A 3 m ceiling = 9.8 ft
Area does not convert by 3.28: one square metre is 10.76 square feet, because both sides are converted. For heights of people, use cm to feet.
How is the meter itself defined?
By the speed of light. Since the 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1983, the metre has been the distance light travels in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second, as set out in the SI Brochure published by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). The foot is then fixed from it at exactly 0.3048 m in NIST Special Publication 811, the US guide to the SI, so one metre comes out at 3.28084 feet.
Formula
Feet = Meters × 3.28084
10 m = 32.808399 ft
Conversion table
| m | ft |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3.28084 |
| 2 | 6.56168 |
| 5 | 16.404199 |
| 10 | 32.808399 |
| 20 | 65.616798 |
| 25 | 82.020997 |
| 50 | 164.042 |
| 100 | 328.084 |
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Frequently asked questions
How many feet is 10 meters?
32.8 ft.
Why do planes use feet?
Feet became the international standard for altitude in aviation; flight levels are expressed in hundreds of feet.
How many square feet is a square meter?
10.76 square feet.