Liters to Gallons: US and Imperial Converter
US and imperial gallons shown side by side, because they differ by about twenty percent and most tools pick one silently.
Enter a number.
Check which gallon you mean. An imperial gallon holds about 20 percent more than a US gallon. A 50 liter fuel tank is 13.2 US gallons or 11.0 imperial gallons, and quoting the wrong one is a large error in a small-sounding number.
The formulas
1 imperial gallon = 4.54609 L (exact)
Both are exact by definition. The same split runs through quarts, pints and fluid ounces, so a British pint isn't an American one.
Conversion table
| Liters | US gallons | Imperial gallons | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 L | 0.264 | 0.220 | 20% larger |
| 5 L | 1.321 | 1.100 | 20% larger |
| 10 L | 2.642 | 2.200 | 20% larger |
| 20 L | 5.283 | 4.399 | 20% larger |
| 40 L | 10.567 | 8.799 | 20% larger |
| 50 L | 13.209 | 10.998 | 20% larger |
| 60 L | 15.850 | 13.198 | 20% larger |
| 75 L | 19.813 | 16.498 | 20% larger |
| 100 L | 26.417 | 21.997 | 20% larger |
| 200 L | 52.834 | 43.994 | 20% larger |
Where this bites
Fuel economy is the worst case, because the gallon difference compounds with the mile-versus-kilometer one. A UK car quoted at 50 mpg isn't doing what a US car quoted at 50 mpg is doing; the UK figure uses the larger imperial gallon, so it is roughly 42 US mpg.
Recipes are the other common case. American and British liquid measures share names and differ in size, which the ounces to cups converter covers for smaller volumes.
Common questions
How many liters in a US gallon?
3.785411784 liters exactly. The imperial gallon is 4.54609 liters exactly, about 20 percent larger.
Why are US and imperial gallons different?
They come from different historical standards. The US gallon derives from the old English wine gallon; the imperial gallon was redefined in Britain in 1824. Both are now defined exactly in liters, but they were never the same.
What is 50 liters in gallons?
50 liters is 13.21 US gallons or 11.00 imperial gallons. The two gallons are different sizes: the US gallon is exactly 3.785411784 liters and the imperial gallon is exactly 4.54609 liters, a difference of about 20 percent.
Which gallon does a fuel economy figure use?
Whichever market it came from. A UK mpg figure uses imperial gallons and a US mpg figure uses US gallons, which makes the two roughly 20 percent apart before you convert anything.
Related converters and guides
Sources
- NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B: Conversion Factors. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Source for every conversion factor on this page, and for which factors are exact rather than rounded.