Cm to feet and inches converter

The rule

One inch is exactly 2.54 centimetres and one foot is 12 inches, so one foot is exactly 30.48 cm (NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C). To turn a height in centimetres into feet and inches, divide by 2.54 to get inches, then divide by 12: the whole number is the feet and the remainder is the inches.

Worked example

170 cm ÷ 2.54 = 66.93 inches. 66.93 ÷ 12 = 5 remainder 6.93, so 170 cm is 5 ft 6.9 in, which most people would round to 5 ft 7 in. Going back, 5 ft 7 in is 5 × 12 + 7 = 67 inches, and 67 × 2.54 = 170.18 cm.

Typing feet and inches

The feet box understands 5 ft 7 in, 5'7", and 5 7 (feet, then inches). A single number such as 5.5 means five and a half feet, which is 5 ft 6 in, not 5 ft 5 in.

Rounding heights

Feet and inches are shown to a tenth of an inch, so you can round to the nearest inch yourself. Medical forms in the UK and Australia usually record height in centimetres; passports and driving licences in the US use feet and inches. For any length in inches, use cm to inches.

A quick check in your head

Every 30 cm is about a foot, and every 2.5 cm about an inch: 180 cm is 6 feet less about 1 inch, so 5 ft 11 in (exactly 5 ft 10.9 in).

Rounding

The answer is worked out from the exact definition, then shown to 4 decimal places (6 significant figures for numbers below 1). It says "exactly" only when nothing was rounded.