Convert inches to metres

One inch is 0.0254 metres. To convert any amount, multiply by 0.0254. Going the other way, one metre is 39.3700787 inches.

Multiply the inch figure by 0.0254. So m = in × 0.0254. For a quick mental estimate, dividing by about 39.37 gets you close enough for most everyday purposes.

One inch is roughly the width of an adult thumb. The inch has been exactly 25.4 millimetres since 1959. Screen sizes, pipe diameters and tyre rims are still specified in inches almost universally.

One metre is roughly the height of a kitchen counter plus a bit. The metre has been defined since 1983 as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second — a definition that ties it to a physical constant rather than to any object.

Yes. Since the 1959 international yard and pound agreement, the imperial and metric systems are related by exact definitions rather than measurements — the inch is exactly 25.4 mm and the pound exactly 0.45359237 kg. Everything derived from those, including this conversion, is therefore exact. Round at the end rather than partway through, since rounding in before converting introduces an error the conversion then multiplies.