# Liters to US cups converter

> Convert liters to US cups (liters to cups) with the exact factor, a conversion chart and worked steps.

Interactive version: https://www.calcopenly.com/conversion/liters-to-cups
Subject: Unit converters

Liter volumes commonly describe bottles, tanks and liquid purchases. A fractional liter can be useful when comparing container capacities or adapting a recipe. If the destination uses gallons or cups, check the regional definition before deciding how many containers to buy.

One litre is about 4.2267528377 US cups, so 1 L is 4.226753 cup. To convert liters to cups, multiply by 4.2267528377; to convert back, multiply by 0.2365882365.

The US customary cup is 8 US fluid ounces, exactly 236.5882365 mL. The factor has no exact decimal form, so results are computed with 50 significant digits and rounded only for display.

## Inputs

- **Liters (L)**

## Results

- US cups (cup) — main result
- Conversion
- 1 cup in liters (L)

## Formula

$$
\text{US cups} = \text{liters} \times 4.22675283773
$$

## Worked examples

### 1 L to cup

- Liters (L): 1 L
- **US cups: 4.2267528377 cup**
- Checked against: Exact-fraction computation from the legal unit definitions (scripts/gen-pairs.py, Python fractions)

### 4 L to cup

- Liters (L): 4 L
- **US cups: 16.9070113509 cup**
- Checked against: Exact-fraction computation from the legal unit definitions (scripts/gen-pairs.py, Python fractions)

### 0.25 L to cup

- Liters (L): 0.25 L
- **US cups: 1.0566882094 cup**
- Checked against: Exact-fraction computation from the legal unit definitions (scripts/gen-pairs.py, Python fractions)

## Questions

### When would I convert liters to cups?

Liter volumes commonly describe bottles, tanks and liquid purchases. A fractional liter can be useful when comparing container capacities or adapting a recipe. If the destination uses gallons or cups, check the regional definition before deciding how many containers to buy.

### How many US cups are in a litre?

One litre is about 4.2267528377 US cups. The US customary cup is 8 US fluid ounces, exactly 236.5882365 mL.

### How do you convert liters to cups?

Multiply the number of liters by 4.2267528377. For example, 1 L × 4.2267528377 = 4.226753 cup. To go the other way, divide by 4.2267528377.

### How can I estimate liters to cups without a calculator?

Multiply by 4.2. That is 0.6% low of the exact factor 4.2267528377, so 1 L comes out as 4.2 cup instead of 4.2268.

### Is a cup 240 mL or 236.6 mL?

Both are in use. The US customary cup in recipes is 236.588 mL. US nutrition labels use a rounded "legal cup" of 240 mL (21 CFR 101.9), and the metric cup used in Australia, New Zealand and Canada is 250 mL.

### How accurate is the liters to US cups converter?

Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 3 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “1 L to cup” is checked against Exact-fraction computation from the legal unit definitions (scripts/gen-pairs.py, Python fractions).

### Where does the method come from?

NIST SP 811 (2008), Guide for the Use of the International System of Units, Appendix B; NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C: General tables of units of measurement; BIPM, The International System of Units (SI Brochure), 9th edition.

## Sources

- [NIST SP 811 (2008), Guide for the Use of the International System of Units, Appendix B](https://www.nist.gov/pml/special-publication-811)
- [NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C: General tables of units of measurement](https://www.nist.gov/pml/weights-and-measures/publications/nist-handbooks/handbook-44)
- [BIPM, The International System of Units (SI Brochure), 9th edition](https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure)