Meters to Feet

Meters and feet meet most often in three places: how tall someone is, how high an aircraft flies and how deep a diver goes. Aviation is the odd one out, because altitudes are quoted in feet almost everywhere including countries that are otherwise fully metric. A foot has been exactly 0.3048 meters since 1959, so nothing here depends on measurement.

How it is calculated

ft = m ÷ 0.3048

Dividing by the exact factor is preferable to multiplying by 3.28084, which is the reciprocal rounded to six digits. The difference only shows up over long distances, but it costs nothing to avoid.

Source: NIST SP 811 (2008), Appendix B.8 — foot (ft) to meter (m) = 3.048 E−01

Common values

Questions people ask

How tall is 1.8 meters in feet and inches?

1.8 meters is 5.905512 feet, which reads as 5 feet 10.9 inches. Heights are usually given in feet plus inches rather than a decimal, so take the whole feet and multiply the remainder by twelve.

Why does aviation still use feet?

Flight levels were standardised in feet and changing them would mean re-certifying instruments, charts and procedures worldwide at once. A few countries, including China and Russia historically, use meters, which is exactly why the conversion matters.

Is a survey foot different?

Slightly. The US survey foot was 1200/3937 of a meter, about two parts per million longer than the international foot. NIST retired it at the end of 2022; this converter uses the international foot.

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