Convert millimetres to feet

Content last reviewed:2026-09-07

Type a dimension in millimetres and read the result in feet. One foot is exactly 304.8 millimetres, so 1,000 mm gives 3.28084 ft. The table below also carries the compound notation in feet and inches, the form printed on drawings and marked on tape measures.

Millimeters

Feet

What is a millimetre, and what is a foot?

A millimetre is one thousandth of a metre. The prefix “milli” carries a multiplier of one thousandth throughout the SI system, so a metre holds a thousand millimetres and a centimetre holds ten[1]. It is the unit every metric engineering drawing uses for its dimensions, because whole millimetres keep the numbers free of decimal points.

The foot (ft) measures exactly 304.8 millimetres. That figure comes from the International Yard and Pound Agreement of 1959, signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa[2]. Before it, each of those countries measured with a slightly different foot, so the same number on two drawings described two different lengths.

One foot divides into twelve inches, and three feet make one yard. That division is where the compound notation comes from: full feet first, then the remainder written in inches.

How many feet is 1,000 mm?

One thousand millimetres is 3.28084 feet. Written the way a tape measure is marked, that is 3 feet and 3 3/8 inches.

The same division gives the two figures asked about most often after that one. Five hundred millimetres comes to 1.64042 feet. Two thousand millimetres works out at 6.56168 feet.

Going the other way, a whole foot lands only on multiples of 304.8 mm. Five feet is exactly 1,524 mm and ten feet is exactly 3,048 mm — the only two rows in the main table on this page where the feet column shows a whole number.

Three feet, or one yard, falls on 914.4 mm. That is why the figure 914 mm turns up in catalogues and drawings that started life in imperial units: it is a yard rounded to the nearest millimetre.

How do you convert millimetres to feet and inches?

Divide the millimetres by 304.8:

feet = millimetres ÷ 304.8

The same sum can be written as a multiplication by 0.00328084, the number of feet in one millimetre. Both routes give an identical answer. Division is the one worth keeping in mind, because 304.8 comes back when you convert the other way and one number then covers both directions.

Worked example: 1,800 ÷ 304.8 = 5.905512 feet.

The compound notation comes out of the fractional part of that answer. The whole number, 5, is the full feet. Multiply the remainder 0.905512 by twelve and you get 10.866 inches. Round the inches to the nearest sixteenth, the finest graduation on a tape measure, and that becomes 10 7/8 inches. The full notation reads 5 ft 10 7/8 in.

For a result in inches alone, divide the millimetres by 25.4 instead — the job done by the millimetres to inches converter. The opposite direction, feet into millimetres, is handled by the feet to millimetres converter.

Is 300 mm one foot?

Three hundred millimetres is 0.984252 feet, or 11 13/16 inches. It falls 4.8 millimetres short of a full foot.

The two figures sit that close together for a reason written into a standard. Dimensional coordination in building is set out in ISO 2848, whose current edition was approved in April 1984[3]. The standard builds every dimension on a basic module written as M, which measures 100 mm in the metric version and 4 inches, or 101.6 mm, in the imperial one. Larger dimensions are assembled from multiples of that module, and 3M is the multiple reached for most often.

Metric 3M is 300 mm. Imperial 3M is 12 inches, which is 304.8 mm. Both modules do the same job in a design, and their lengths differ by 4.8 mm — which is exactly where the question comes from.

Across a single module that gap is invisible. Across ten modules it grows to 48 mm. Across thirty, the length of a wall nine metres long, it reaches 144 mm. That is why a dimension off a drawing gets divided by 304.8: rounding to 300 adds 4.8 mm at every module and after a dozen metres the difference is one you can see on site.

How many feet is a given number of millimetres?

The values are chosen to match the dimensions that actually appear on drawings: spacings, sheet widths, ceiling heights and component lengths. The feet column carries six decimal places, the same precision as the converter above.

Millimetres	Feet	Feet and inches
1 mm	0.003281 ft	0 1/16 in
5 mm	0.016404 ft	0 3/16 in
6 mm	0.019685 ft	0 1/4 in
10 mm	0.032808 ft	0 3/8 in
15 mm	0.049213 ft	0 9/16 in
20 mm	0.065617 ft	0 13/16 in
25 mm	0.082021 ft	1 in
30 mm	0.098425 ft	1 3/16 in
40 mm	0.131234 ft	1 9/16 in
50 mm	0.164042 ft	1 15/16 in
60 mm	0.19685 ft	2 3/8 in
70 mm	0.229659 ft	2 3/4 in
75 mm	0.246063 ft	2 15/16 in
80 mm	0.262467 ft	3 1/8 in
90 mm	0.295276 ft	3 9/16 in
100 mm	0.328084 ft	3 15/16 in
120 mm	0.393701 ft	4 3/4 in
150 mm	0.492126 ft	5 7/8 in
160 mm	0.524934 ft	6 5/16 in
180 mm	0.590551 ft	7 1/16 in
200 mm	0.656168 ft	7 7/8 in
250 mm	0.82021 ft	9 13/16 in
300 mm	0.984252 ft	11 13/16 in
305 mm	1.000656 ft	1 ft 0 in
350 mm	1.148294 ft	1 ft 1 3/4 in
400 mm	1.312336 ft	1 ft 3 3/4 in
450 mm	1.476378 ft	1 ft 5 11/16 in
500 mm	1.64042 ft	1 ft 7 11/16 in
550 mm	1.804462 ft	1 ft 9 5/8 in
600 mm	1.968504 ft	1 ft 11 5/8 in
610 mm	2.001312 ft	2 ft 0 in
650 mm	2.132546 ft	2 ft 1 9/16 in
700 mm	2.296588 ft	2 ft 3 9/16 in
750 mm	2.46063 ft	2 ft 5 1/2 in
760 mm	2.493438 ft	2 ft 5 15/16 in
800 mm	2.624672 ft	2 ft 7 1/2 in
850 mm	2.788714 ft	2 ft 9 7/16 in
900 mm	2.952756 ft	2 ft 11 7/16 in
914 mm	2.998688 ft	3 ft 0 in
950 mm	3.116798 ft	3 ft 1 3/8 in
1,000 mm	3.28084 ft	3 ft 3 3/8 in
1,100 mm	3.608924 ft	3 ft 7 5/16 in
1,200 mm	3.937008 ft	3 ft 11 1/4 in
1,220 mm	4.002625 ft	4 ft 0 1/16 in
1,250 mm	4.10105 ft	4 ft 1 3/16 in
1,300 mm	4.265092 ft	4 ft 3 3/16 in
1,400 mm	4.593176 ft	4 ft 7 1/8 in
1,500 mm	4.92126 ft	4 ft 11 1/16 in
1,524 mm	5 ft	5 ft 0 in
1,600 mm	5.249344 ft	5 ft 3 in
1,700 mm	5.577428 ft	5 ft 6 15/16 in
1,800 mm	5.905512 ft	5 ft 10 7/8 in
1,900 mm	6.233596 ft	6 ft 2 13/16 in
2,000 mm	6.56168 ft	6 ft 6 3/4 in
2,100 mm	6.889764 ft	6 ft 10 11/16 in
2,200 mm	7.217848 ft	7 ft 2 5/8 in
2,300 mm	7.545932 ft	7 ft 6 9/16 in
2,400 mm	7.874016 ft	7 ft 10 1/2 in
2,438 mm	7.998688 ft	8 ft 0 in
2,440 mm	8.005249 ft	8 ft 0 1/16 in
2,500 mm	8.2021 ft	8 ft 2 7/16 in
2,600 mm	8.530184 ft	8 ft 6 3/8 in
2,700 mm	8.858268 ft	8 ft 10 5/16 in
2,800 mm	9.186352 ft	9 ft 2 1/4 in
2,900 mm	9.514436 ft	9 ft 6 3/16 in
3,000 mm	9.84252 ft	9 ft 10 1/8 in
3,048 mm	10 ft	10 ft 0 in
3,200 mm	10.498688 ft	10 ft 6 in
3,500 mm	11.48294 ft	11 ft 5 13/16 in
3,600 mm	11.811024 ft	11 ft 9 3/4 in
4,000 mm	13.12336 ft	13 ft 1 1/2 in
4,500 mm	14.76378 ft	14 ft 9 3/16 in
5,000 mm	16.404199 ft	16 ft 4 7/8 in
6,000 mm	19.685039 ft	19 ft 8 1/4 in
6,058 mm	19.875328 ft	19 ft 10 1/2 in
7,000 mm	22.965879 ft	22 ft 11 9/16 in
8,000 mm	26.246719 ft	26 ft 2 15/16 in
10,000 mm	32.808399 ft	32 ft 9 11/16 in

The compound column rounds inches to the nearest sixteenth, the finest graduation marked on a tape measure. The highlighted rows gather the values asked about most often together with those that land on a whole foot or just beside one. Three hundred and five millimetres gives one foot, 610 mm gives two, 914 mm gives three and 2,438 mm gives eight. The two that hit a whole foot to the millimetre are 1,524 mm and 3,048 mm, at five and ten feet.

How many feet are common building dimensions?

Dimensions that British and European suppliers quote in millimetres even where the trade still talks in feet. The first six rows show how close the metric and imperial formats of the same component sit to each other.

Dimension	Millimetres	Feet	Feet and inches
The 3M module from ISO 2848	300 mm	0.984252 ft	11 13/16 in
Plasterboard sheet, width	1,200 mm	3.937008 ft	3 ft 11 1/4 in
Sheet good in the 4 ft format, width	1,219.2 mm	4 ft	4 ft 0 in
Sheet good in the 8 ft format, length	2,438.4 mm	8 ft	8 ft 0 in
Continental European sheet, width	1,250 mm	4.10105 ft	4 ft 1 3/16 in
Continental European sheet, length	2,500 mm	8.2021 ft	8 ft 2 7/16 in
Standard internal door in England and Wales, width	762 mm	2.5 ft	2 ft 6 in
Standard internal door in England and Wales, height	1,981 mm	6.499344 ft	6 ft 6 in
Standard internal door in Scotland, width	726 mm	2.38189 ft	2 ft 4 9/16 in
Standard internal door in Scotland, height	2,040 mm	6.692913 ft	6 ft 8 5/16 in

The standard internal door in England and Wales measures 762 × 1,981 mm, which is 2 ft 6 in wide by very nearly 6 ft 6 in tall; Scotland works to 726 × 2,040 mm instead[4]. The width is an exact imperial figure carried into metric, because 2 ft 6 in is 762 mm to the millimetre. The height is a rounded one: 6 ft 6 in comes to 1,981.2 mm, and the door is sold as 1,981 mm.

How many millimetres is a foot in each system of measure?

The converter works in international feet, the only value in force today. The remaining rows matter when you meet an older survey, a colonial land record or a Roman site plan, where the word described a different length.

Kind of foot	Millimetres	Where and when it applied
International foot	304.8 mm	In force since 1959 across the whole inch-pound system
US survey foot	304.8006096 mm	American land surveying from 1893 to 2022
Pre-1959 British imperial foot	304.799 mm	The United Kingdom until the 1959 agreement
Indian survey foot	304.7996 mm	Indian land surveying
Cape foot	314.858 mm	Land surveying in South Africa before metrication
Roman pes	295.7 mm	The Roman Empire
Pes Drusianus	334 mm	The Roman provinces north of the Alps

The figures for the historical and survey feet are collected by Wikipedia[5]. The British and American feet differed by roughly two ten-thousandths of a millimetre before 1959, which is precisely what the agreement of that year removed. The US survey foot outlived it in land surveying until the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Geodetic Survey retired it on 1 January 2023, leaving it in place for historic records alone[2].

How do you set millimetres and feet in an AutoCAD drawing?

An AutoCAD drawing stores bare numbers and leaves the unit to a document setting. That is why the same file can show two different dimensions to two people. The steps below describe AutoCAD 2027, released on 25 March 2026.

Find out what one drawing unit means
Type UNITS at the command line to open the Drawing Units dialog[6]. The field under Insertion scale states the real length of one drawing unit. That setting is stored in the INSUNITS system variable, which takes the value 1 for inches, 2 for feet, 4 for millimetres and 5 for centimetres[7]. Whether the dimension 1200 on the drawing means 1,200 millimetres or 1,200 inches follows from that number.
Set the unit you want to work in
In the same dialog, the Length section governs how dimensions are displayed, and Insertion scale governs the unit of the file itself. The first decides what you see on screen and type at the keyboard. The second decides the scale at which an inserted block or external reference arrives.
Rescale the geometry when you change systems
Changing the unit settings alters how dimensions are written and read, while objects already on the drawing keep the numbers they had. The -DWGUNITS command converts a whole file, working through a series of prompts and offering to match INSUNITS to the new unit along the way. The other route is to scale the selected objects by 25.4 when moving from inches to millimetres.
Convert a single dimension here
For one figure off a drawing, rather than a change to the whole file, type it into the converter at the top of this page. You get the answer in decimal feet, the form a CAD dimension field takes. The feet-and-inches notation for the most common dimensions is in the table of ready millimetre conversions above.

Convert other units to Feet

miles to feet meters to feet yards to feet inches to feet px to feet

Convert Millimeters to other units

mm to px mm to cm mm to inches

Sources

SI base unit: metre (m) — Bureau International des Poids et Mesures
U.S. Survey Foot: Revised Unit Conversion Factors — National Institute of Standards and Technology
ISO 2848:1984 Building construction — Modular coordination — Principles and rules — Swedish Institute for Standards
Standard door sizes in the United Kingdom — JB Kind Doors
Foot (unit) — Wikipedia
About Units of Measurement — Autodesk
INSUNITS (System Variable) — Autodesk

Every figure in the tables was computed from the unit definitions and checked arithmetically before publication. Historical values and the names of local units come from the sources listed above.

Content last reviewed: September 7, 2026 · written and checked by the Arteon team

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Is 1,220 mm exactly four feet?

One thousand two hundred and twenty millimetres is 4.002625 feet, or 4 feet and 1/16 inch. Four feet exactly is 1,219.2 mm, so the gap is 0.8 mm and it comes from rounding the sheet format to whole centimetres.

Why is a foot exactly 304.8 millimetres?

The figure follows from the definition of the yard agreed in 1959. A yard is exactly 0.9144 metres and a foot is a third of it, which is 0.3048 metres. The inch-pound countries replaced their separate national definitions with that single value so one number would hold good in all of them at once.

What is the US survey foot?

It is the older American definition of the foot, equal to 1200/3937 of a metre, or 304.8006096 mm. Only land surveying used it. Since 1 January 2023 the international foot serves in that role as well, and the survey foot is kept for historic records.

How many millimetres are in an inch?

An inch is exactly 25.4 millimetres and a twelfth of a foot. Conversions run both ways in the inches to millimetres converter.

How many millimetres are in a yard?

A yard is 914.4 millimetres, or three feet. It is the figure the whole system rests on: the 1959 agreement defines the yard, and the foot and the inch are fractions of it. Metres and yards are converted by the yards to metres converter.

How finely do the tables round the inches?

To the nearest sixteenth of an inch, which is 1.5875 mm. That is the smallest graduation on a tape measure and the working tolerance in joinery and timber-frame construction. Decimal feet are given to six places.

Arteon free tool screenshot: Convert millimetres to feet

Have a question or suggestion?

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