Volume Calculator
Every solid has its own volume formula, and the only real work is agreeing which measurement goes where. Pick a solid, enter its diameter or length, its width and its height in whatever unit you measured with, and this converts everything to metres, applies that solid’s formula, and gives the answer in litres, cubic metres, cubic feet and both kinds of gallon.
- Accurate
- Real-time
- Easy to use
- 100% free
Volume in litres
1,696.5 L
Cubic feet
59.910 ft³
Details
Updates as you typeEach solid uses only some of the three dimensions below. The working spells out which.
Changing this restates the dimensions you already typed; it does not resize the solid.
Cylinder, sphere, cone and capsule: the diameter across the widest point. Box and pyramid: the length of the base.
The second edge of a rectangular base — box and pyramid only. A round solid is as wide as its diameter, so this is ignored for one.
Box, cylinder, cone and pyramid: the vertical height. Capsule: the straight side between the two domed ends. A sphere has none, so this is ignored for it.
Summary
Volume in litres
1,696.5 L
- Cubic metres
- 1.6965 m³
- Cubic feet
- 59.910 ft³
- US gallons
- 448.16 US gal
- Imperial gallons
- 373.17 imp gal
- A cylinder is fixed by the diameter across its top and its height, so the width field is ignored here.
- Dimensions are converted to metres before anything else, so 1.2 m, 120 cm and 3.94 ft all give the same answer.
- A litre is exactly one thousandth of a cubic metre. The US liquid gallon is exactly 231 cubic inches while the imperial gallon is exactly 4.54609 litres, which is why the two gallon figures differ by about a fifth.
- Fresh water weighs almost exactly one kilogram per litre, so the litre figure doubles as the weight in kilograms of this solid filled with water.
How this is calculated
- Diameter d
- 1.2000 m
- Height h
- 1.5000 m
- Radius r = d ÷ 2
- 0.6000 m
- Volume πr²h
- 1.69646 m³
- Litres = m³ × 1000
- 1,696.5 L
Compare scenarios
See how one change moves the result
- CurrentYour inputs as they stand1,696.5 LCurrent
- Diameter or lengthm 1.52,650.7 L
- Height or sidem 1.92,148.8 L
Frequently asked questions
How many litres does a cylindrical tank hold?
Halve the diameter to get the radius, square it, multiply by π and by the height for the volume in cubic metres, then multiply by 1000 for litres. A tank 1.2 m across and 1.5 m tall holds π × 0.6² × 1.5 = 1.6965 cubic metres, which is about 1696 litres — near enough the 1700 litre tank it would be sold as.
Do I enter the radius or the diameter?
The diameter, for every round solid here. It is the measurement you can actually take, by laying a tape across the widest point, whereas a radius has to be inferred from a centre you cannot see. The working halves it for you and shows the radius it used on the next line.
What is the formula for the volume of a capsule?
A capsule is a cylinder with a hemisphere on each end, so its volume is πr²h + 4/3·πr³ — the cylinder plus the two half-spheres, which together make exactly one whole sphere. The h in that formula is the straight side only, so the overall length of the capsule is h plus one full diameter.
Why does a cone hold exactly a third of a cylinder?
Both stand on the same circular base, but the cone tapers linearly to a point, so its cross-section area at height x is the base area times (1 − x/h)². Integrating that over the height gives exactly one third of the base area times the height. The same 1/3 appears in the pyramid formula for exactly the same reason.
Why are the US and imperial gallon figures different?
They are unrelated units that share a name. The US liquid gallon is defined as exactly 231 cubic inches, or about 3.785 litres, while the imperial gallon used in the UK is exactly 4.54609 litres. An imperial gallon is roughly a fifth larger, so a tank quoted at 300 US gallons is only about 250 imperial ones.
Does the unit I choose change the answer?
No. Every dimension is converted to metres before any formula runs, so 1.2 m, 120 cm, 3.937 ft and 47.24 in all describe the same tank and all produce the same litres. Switching the unit selector also restates the numbers you have already typed rather than reinterpreting them as a different size.