Pints to Liters

About Pints and Liters

Pints (pt): Two US cups (473 mL), or in the UK an imperial pint of 568 mL (about 20% larger); pints date to medieval English measurement, with the modern US definition fixed by the 1707 wine gallon. Common uses: Beer and other beverages (a US pint of beer is 16 fl oz; a UK pint is 20 fl oz), ice cream containers, and some recipe measurements.

Liters (L): One cubic decimeter, or 1,000 cubic centimeters; one liter of water at standard conditions weighs almost exactly one kilogram, a coincidence that made the unit popular for everyday volume measurement. Common uses: Beverage container sizes, fuel (especially outside the US, where fuel is sold by the liter), engine displacements, and large-volume cooking and chemistry.

How the conversion works

Volume conversions use US customary measure (the cup, fluid ounce, and gallon are US definitions, not imperial). 1 US cup = 236.588 mL, 1 US gallon = 3.785411784 L.

The exact relationship is liters = pints × 0.473176, which the calculator at the top of this page applies in both directions. Type into either field and the other updates immediately.

When this conversion matters

Converting between pints and liters comes up wherever volume measurements move between systems — from one country's conventions to another's, from a scientific reference to a practical specification, or from one industry's working unit to another's. The calculator and reference table above cover the everyday range; for unusual values you can type any number into either field.