Cubic Feet to CBM
Convert cubic feet (ft³) to CBM (cubic meters) with the exact factor, instant, no rounding tricks.
How cubic feet to CBM works
A cubic foot and a cubic meter are both pure volume units, so converting between them is a single multiplication, there is no shipment, carrier or weight involved here, just geometry. The exact relationship is:
1 ft³ = 0.0283168 m³ (and inversely 1 CBM = 35.3147 ft³)
So to go from cubic feet to CBM you multiply by 0.0283168:
CBM = cubic feet × 0.0283168
The factor comes straight from the length conversion 1 ft = 0.3048 m, cubed: 0.3048³ = 0.0283168. Because it is an exact definition, the conversion is reversible with no loss, divide a CBM figure by 0.0283168 (or multiply by 35.3147) to get back to cubic feet. There is no shrinkage or void allowance baked in here: it is straight unit math, so the same factor applies whether you are converting a single carton, a pallet footprint or a whole container's worth of cargo.
Worked example
Say you have measured a consignment at 500 ft³ and your forwarder wants the figure in CBM for a sea-freight booking:
- 500 × 0.0283168 = 14.16 CBM
A smaller parcel of 100 ft³ becomes 100 × 0.0283168 = 2.83 CBM. Note that you only ever multiply the total volume, you do not convert each side of the box separately.
Conversion reference
| Cubic feet (ft³) | CBM (m³) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0283 |
| 10 | 0.2832 |
| 35.3147 | 1.0000 |
| 50 | 1.4158 |
| 100 | 2.8317 |
| 500 | 14.1584 |
| 1000 | 28.3168 |
If you have box dimensions rather than a finished cubic-foot figure, start from the CBM calculator or the CBM calculator in feet, which build the volume from length × width × height for you. To go the other way, use CBM to cubic feet. For background on why freight is quoted in CBM at all, see what is CBM.