How Volume Conversion Works
All liquid measures here are defined exactly in liters. The US kitchen chain is worth memorizing: 3 teaspoons make a tablespoon, 16 tablespoons make a cup, 2 cups make a pint, 2 pints a quart, and 4 quarts a gallon.
A recipe calls for 2.5 cups of milk and your measuring jug is metric: 2.5 × 236.59 mL = 591 mL — just over half a liter.
Kitchen Conversion Table
| US measure | Milliliters | Fluid ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon | 4.93 | 0.17 |
| 1 tablespoon | 14.79 | 0.5 |
| 1/4 cup | 59.15 | 2 |
| 1/2 cup | 118.29 | 4 |
| 1 cup | 236.59 | 8 |
| 1 pint | 473.18 | 16 |
| 1 quart | 946.35 | 32 |
| 1 gallon | 3,785.41 | 128 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many milliliters are in a cup?
A US cup is 236.6 mL — recipes often round to 240 mL. Note that a UK/metric cup is 250 mL and an Australian tablespoon is 20 mL, so international recipes can differ.
How many liters are in a gallon?
A US gallon is 3.785 L. The UK (imperial) gallon is larger at 4.546 L — this converter uses US liquid measures, the ones in most online recipes.
How many tablespoons are in a cup?
16 tablespoons, and each tablespoon is 3 teaspoons — so a US cup is 48 teaspoons.
Can I convert milliliters to grams?
Only if you know the density. For water it’s 1:1 (100 mL = 100 g), which is why the two are often mixed up. Flour is about 0.53 g/mL and honey about 1.42 g/mL, so volume-to-weight conversion is ingredient-specific.
Cite This Calculator
Using this calculator in an assignment, article or lesson? Copy a ready-made citation — or the link snippet if you're referencing it from a web page.
The CalculatorsGuide Editorial Team. (2026). Volume Converter. CalculatorsGuide. Retrieved from https://www.calculatorsguide.com/conversions/volume-converter/