Length & Distance Converter
Convert between length and distance units — metric (km, m, cm, mm, µm), imperial (mile, yard, foot, inch, nautical mile) and traditional units (hand, span, finger, cubit, rod/pole, link, chain, rope, ken, league). Pick any two; it runs entirely in your browser.
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Every factor here is exact or a widely-accepted standard, anchored to the metre (1 inch = 2.54 cm, 1 foot = 0.3048 m, 1 mile = 1,609.344 m, 1 nautical mile = 1,852 m), so the live tool and the numbers on every page below always agree. Older units carry their definition next to them — for example a hand is 4 inches, a finger (cloth) is 4.5 inches, a rod is 16.5 ft.
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Units in this converter
| Unit | What it is |
|---|---|
| Kilometre (km) | A kilometre is 1,000 metres — the metric unit for road and map distances. |
| Metre (m) | The metre is the SI base unit of length, from which every other unit here is defined. |
| Decimetre (dm) | A decimetre is one-tenth of a metre (10 cm). |
| Centimetre (cm) | A centimetre is one-hundredth of a metre — the everyday small-length metric unit. |
| Millimetre (mm) | A millimetre is one-thousandth of a metre. |
| Micrometre (µm) | A micrometre (micron) is one-millionth of a metre — used for cells, wavelengths and machining tolerances. |
| Mile (mi) | A mile is 5,280 feet (1,760 yards), exactly 1,609.344 m — the imperial/US road-distance unit. |
| Yard (yd) | A yard is 3 feet, defined as exactly 0.9144 m. |
| Foot (ft) | A foot is 12 inches, defined as exactly 0.3048 m. |
| Inch (in) | An inch is exactly 2.54 cm (1/12 of a foot). |
| Nautical Mile (nmi) | A nautical mile is exactly 1,852 m — one minute of latitude, used in sea and air navigation. |
| Furlong (fur) | A furlong is 660 feet (1/8 of a mile) — still used in horse racing. |
| Chain (ch) | A Gunter's chain is 66 feet (100 links, 1/10 furlong) — the basis of old land surveys. |
| Link (li) | A link is 1/100 of a surveyor's chain — 7.92 inches (0.66 ft). |
| Rod (rd) | A rod (also called a perch or pole) is 16.5 feet, exactly 5.0292 m; 4 rods make a chain. |
| Pole (pole) | A pole is the same length as a rod or perch — 16.5 feet (5.0292 m). |
| Fathom (ftm) | A fathom is 6 feet (1.8288 m) — traditionally used to measure water depth. |
| Hand (hand) | A hand is exactly 4 inches (0.1016 m) — the standard unit for the height of horses. |
| Span (span) | A span is 9 inches (0.2286 m) — the distance across a spread hand; 4 fingers = 1 span. |
| Finger (finger) | A finger (cloth measure) is 4.5 inches — 1/8 of a yard, 11.43 cm. It is NOT the same as a fingerbreadth/digit (about ¾ inch). |
| Cubit (cubit) | A cubit is about 18 inches (0.4572 m) — elbow-to-fingertip. Ancient values varied; 18 inches is the common English value used here. |
| Rope (rope) | A rope is 20 feet (6.096 m) — a traditional English surveying length. |
| Ken (ken) | A ken is a Japanese unit of 6 shaku, standardised since 1891 as 60/33 m ≈ 1.818 m. |
| League (lea) | A statute (land) league is 3 miles — 4,828.032 m. |
| Point (pt) | A DTP point is 1/72 of an inch (≈0.3528 mm) — the unit used for font sizes. |
| Astronomical Unit (AU) | An astronomical unit is the average Earth–Sun distance, defined as exactly 149,597,870,700 m. |
| Light-year (ly) | A light-year is the distance light travels in vacuum in one Julian year — exactly 9,460,730,472,580,800 m (≈9.46 × 10¹⁵ m). |
| Decametre (dam) | A decametre is 10 metres — the metric step between the metre and the hectometre. |
| Hectometre (hm) | A hectometre is 100 metres — the metric step between the decametre and the kilometre. |
| Nautical League (nl) | A nautical league is three nautical miles — exactly 5,556 m — a traditional sea-distance unit. |