US Cups to Liters Converter (cups to L)
1 US cup = 0.2365882365 L exactly. Convert big-batch cup amounts to liters for pots, pitchers and cartons, with cups and liters charts.
Liter (L) = US Cup (cup) × 0.2365882365
US Cup (cup): The US customary cup is half a US pint: 8 US fluid ounces or 236.5882365 mL. US recipes use it; nutrition labels instead use a rounded 240 mL "legal cup".
Liter (L): The liter is the metric unit of volume accepted for use with the SI. Since 1964 it has been defined as exactly one cubic decimeter, which is 1,000 cubic centimeters.
| US Cup (cup) | Liter (L) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.2365882365 |
| 5 | 1.1829411825 |
| 10 | 2.365882365 |
| 25 | 5.9147059125 |
| 50 | 11.829411825 |
| 100 | 23.65882365 |
Cups work well for a single recipe, but scaled-up cooking quickly reaches amounts like 12 or 20 cups, and at that size liters are easier to picture and to buy. Converting tells you how many 1 L cartons of stock to open, whether a pot is big enough, or how a party punch compares with a 2 L bottle. Drinks follow the same pattern: a gallon of iced tea is 16 cups, a little under 3.8 L.
Each US cup is exactly 0.2365882365 L, so four cups fall just short of a liter at about 0.95 L. The household table shows pots, bowls and jugs whose US sizes are given in quarts or gallons, restated in cups (4 to the quart, 16 to the gallon) and then in liters.
How to use this tool
- Type a value in the US Cup box to see it in liters, or type in the Liter box to convert the other way.
- Press ⇄ to swap the two units, or Load example for a typical value.
- Check the charts below for common values; for other units, open the Volume converter.
Formula
Liter (L) = US Cup (cup) × 0.2365882365
US Cup (cup) = Liter (L) × 4.22675283773
Both factors come from exact definitions: 1 liter = 4.22675283773 US cups and 1 us cup = 0.2365882365 liters (shown to 12 significant digits).
Example
Two conversions worked with the same factors the converter uses:
12 cup × 0.2365882365 ≈ 2.83906 L
1.5 L × 4.22675283773 ≈ 6.34013 cup
US Cup to Liter chart
Common values from US cups to liters, rounded to four decimal places.
| US Cup (cup) | Liter (L) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.2366 |
| 2 | 0.4732 |
| 3 | 0.7098 |
| 4 | 0.9464 |
| 5 | 1.1829 |
| 6 | 1.4195 |
| 8 | 1.8927 |
| 10 | 2.3659 |
| 12 | 2.8391 |
| 14 | 3.3122 |
| 16 | 3.7854 |
| 18 | 4.2586 |
| 20 | 4.7318 |
| 24 | 5.6781 |
| 28 | 6.6245 |
| 32 | 7.5708 |
| 40 | 9.4635 |
| 48 | 11.3562 |
| 64 | 15.1416 |
| 100 | 23.6588 |
Liter to US Cup chart
The reverse direction for values people often look up.
| Liter (L) | US Cup (cup) |
|---|---|
| 0.25 | 1.0567 |
| 0.5 | 2.1134 |
| 1 | 4.2268 |
| 1.75 | 7.3968 |
| 2 | 8.4535 |
| 3 | 12.6803 |
| 3.8 | 16.0617 |
| 4 | 16.907 |
| 5 | 21.1338 |
| 7.5 | 31.7006 |
| 10 | 42.2675 |
Large cup amounts from the US kitchen
| Amount | US Cup (cup) | Liter (L) |
|---|---|---|
| Eight 8 fl oz glasses of water | 8 | 1.8927 |
| Gallon jug of sweet tea | 16 | 3.7854 |
| Stand mixer bowl, common 5-quart size | 20 | 4.7318 |
| Slow cooker, common 6-quart size | 24 | 5.6781 |
| Stockpot, common 8-quart size | 32 | 7.5708 |
| Drink cooler of punch, 3-gallon size | 48 | 11.3562 |
Quick mental estimate
Take a quarter of the cups, then subtract 5%: 12 cups → 3 − 0.15 = 2.85 L. The method uses 0.2375 L per cup, about 0.4% above the exact value.
Use the converter or the charts when the exact figure matters.
The two units
US Cup (cup): The US customary cup is half a US pint: 8 US fluid ounces or 236.5882365 mL. US recipes use it; nutrition labels instead use a rounded 240 mL "legal cup".
Liter (L): The liter is the metric unit of volume accepted for use with the SI. Since 1964 it has been defined as exactly one cubic decimeter, which is 1,000 cubic centimeters.
Frequently asked questions
How many liters is 4 cups?
4 US cups is 0.946 L, exactly one US quart. To reach a full liter you need about 4.23 cups, roughly 4 cups plus 3½ tablespoons.
Is a 12-cup coffee maker 12 US cups?
No. Coffee makers often count a "cup" as 5 or 6 fl oz rather than 8, so a 12-cup carafe holds roughly 1.8 to 2.1 L, well under the 2.84 L that 12 US cups would fill.
Why do some recipes treat a cup as a quarter liter?
They use the metric cup of 250 mL, standard in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. A US cup is about 5% smaller, so for an American recipe 0.24 L is the closer round figure.
How precise is the result?
The converter uses the exact definitions above with browser floating-point arithmetic and shows up to 12 significant digits. The charts round to four decimal places for reading.
Sources
Last updated:
Page address with these inputs: https://kakao.mobile/tools/us-cup-to-liter-converter/
Cite or embed this tool
kakaoCalc. (2026, November 8). US Cups to Liters Converter (cups to L). https://kakao.mobile/tools/us-cup-to-liter-converter/
“US Cups to Liters Converter (cups to L).” kakaoCalc, 8 Nov. 2026, kakao.mobile/tools/us-cup-to-liter-converter/.
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