Cubic Feet Calculator

Created by Hanna Pamuła, PhD
Reviewed by Bogna Szyk and Jack Bowater
Last updated: Jan 03, 2023

With this cubic feet calculator, you'll quickly find out the volume in square feet. It may help you estimate the volume of a cuboid container, as well as the amount of material required to finish your desired earthworks — for example, calculating cubic feet of soil, sand, or gravel. In the paragraphs below, you can read about how to calculate cubic feet from inches or from your favorite length unit. Wait no longer: scroll down, read on, and never worry about cubic feet calculations again!

🔎 If you need, you can quickly convert any volume to cubic yards with our cubic yard calculator.

How to calculate cubic feet?

"Calculating cubic feet" is a simplified way of saying that we need to find the volume of an object in cubic feet. One cubic foot is a volume that fills a $1\ \text{ft} \times 1\ \text{ft} \times 1\ \text{ft}$ cubic container.

So, if you want to calculate the volume of a box-shaped object, the formula for volume looks as follows:

$\footnotesize \text{Volume} = \text{length} \times \text{width} \times \text{height}$

If all your dimensions are in feet, then the volume you obtain is in cubic feet.

Calculating volume is useful in many different situations in everyday life, for example:

• If you want to estimate the volume of your fridge, dishwasher, or oven.
• If you're curious about how much space your suitcase takes up, so you'll know if it fits in your trunk.
• If you're wondering how much sand will fit into a rectangular sandbox or how much gravel your driveway needs.
• How much water will fill up your aquarium or pool(although gallons are used more often than cubic feet in those cases).

And how to calculate cubic feet from inches?

But what do we do if the dimensions are expressed in units other than feet — like yards, inches, or even centimeters and meters? Well, you need to convert them. There are two ways of doing this — either you convert the units before the volume calculation or after:

1. Convert the dimensions into feet. Assuming that our length, width, and height are in:

• Inches — you need to divide each value by $12$.
• Yards — multiply each value by $3$.
• Centimeters — divide each value by $30.48$.
• Meters — multiply each value by $3.281$.

After converting the units, you'll have all of the dimensions in feet, so a simple multiplication will give us the result in cubic feet.

2. Convert the volume directly to cubic feet unit. You may find this method easier, as you only need to divide or multiply once:

• Inches — divide the volume value by $1,\!728$ (because it's $12^3$).
• Yards — multiply the volume value by $27$ (which is $3^3$).
• Centimeters — divide the volume value by $28,\!316.847$ (which is $30.48^3$).
• Meters — multiply the volume value by $35.315$ (which is $3.281^3$).

If you are dealing with a different unit for each dimension, we recommend using the first method to avoid miscalculations. Or even better, you can use our cubic feet calculator and forget about tricky unit conversions!

Example on calculation of cubic feet from inches

Let's have a look at the example. Assume that you have an oven with its dimensions expressed in inches:

• $\text{Width} = 30\ \text{in}$;
• $\text{Height} = 36\ \text{in}$; and
• $\text{Depth} = 25\ \text{in}$.

So, how do we calculate its volume in cubic feet? Let's find it using to two methods we outlined in the paragraph above:

Step 1: First, to calculate cubic feet from inches, we need to convert the inches into feet:

• $\text{Width} = 30\ \text{in} / 12 = 2.5\ \text{ft}$;
• $\text{Height} = 36\ \text{in} / 12 = 3\ \text{ft}$; and
• $\text{Depth} = 25\ \text{in} / 12 = \sim 2.083\ \text{ft}$.

To find the final volume in cubic feet, we simply need to multiply the dimensions together:

$\footnotesize \begin{split} \quad \text{Volume} &= 2.5\ \text{ft} \times 3\ \text{ft}\times 2.083\ \text{ft} \\ &= 15.625\ \text{ft}^3 \\ \end{split}$

Step 2: Alternatively, multiply all three dimensions together and divide the result by $1,\!728$:

$\footnotesize \begin{split} \quad \text{Volume [in]}^3 &= 30\ \text{in} \times 36\ \text{in} \times 25\ \text{in} \\ &= 27,\!000\ \text{in}^3 \\ \therefore \text{Volume [ft]}^3 &= \text{Volume [in]}^3 / 1,\!728 \\ &= 27,\!000\ \text{in}^3 / 1,\!728 \\ &= 15.625\ \text{ft}^3 \end{split}$

The result is, of course, the same. It wasn't so hard to calculate cubic feet from inches, was it? Fear makes things look twice as bad as they are.

Calculating cubic feet of soil

Calculating cubic feet of soil is no different than calculating the standard volume! All you need to do is find the volume of soil required:

Step 1: Determine the area you want to cover with soil. If the area is rectangular, then it's a piece of cake — just multiply the length and width.

$\footnotesize \text{Area} = \text{length} \times \text{width}$

Let's assume we have a length of 10 yards and a width of 3 yards, so then the area would be equal to:

$\footnotesize \text{Area} = 10\ \text{yd} \times 3\ \text{yd} = 30\ \text{yd}^2$

Suppose the area you want to cover has a more irregular shape. In that case, you can try dividing the area into a couple of rectangles and calculating their areas separately before summing them up. There are also situations where we want to cover a triangular, trapezoidal, circular, or circle sector area. If you need a specific shape, e.g. cubic feet of a cylinder calculator (or a cone, or a sphere), check out our volume calculator, which covers the most common three-dimensional solids.

Step 2: Decide on the desired thickness of the soil (also known as depth or height). Assuming that we want the same depth over the whole area, for example 0.5 yards, we need to calculate a volume of a rectangular cuboid (box):

$\footnotesize \begin{split} \text{Volume} &= \text{area} \times \text{height} \\ % &= \text{length} \times \text{width} \times \text{height} \\ &= 30\ \text{yd}^2 \times 0.5\ \text{yd} \\ &= 15\ \text{yd}^3 \end{split}$

Step 3: Convert the result into the units you want — in this case, cubic feet. To convert from cubic yards to cubic feet, you need to multiply the result by 27:

$\footnotesize \text{Volume} = 15 \times 27 = 405\ \text{ft}^3$

You can change the unit in the cubic feet calculator by clicking on the unit's name and choosing one from the drop-down list. Alternatively, you can use our volume converter.

And there we go, we've found the required volume of soil in cubic feet$405\ \text{ft}^3$!

If this cubic feet calculator is too simple for your gardening needs, try our dedicated tools. Apart from calculating the cubic feet of soil needed, we can estimate the cost and weight of the soil as well. We've prepared even more tools for gardening enthusiasts: check out our plant spacing calculator for how to plant the perfect line of plants and many others.

FAQ

What is the volume of a 5ft x 5ft x 5ft cube?

125 ft3 is the volume of a 5ft x 5ft x 5ft cube. It's an easy calculation, just multiply 5×5×5 = 125!

How do I calculate cubic yards from feet?

To calculate cubic yards from feet:

1. Take each dimension that is in feet and divide it by 3 to convert it to yards.
2. Multiply the three dimensions as they are in yards.
3. Tada! You have your cubic yards.

What is the volume of a 1ft x 1ft x 1ft cube?

The volume of a 1 ft x 1 ft x 1 ft cube is 1 ft3. It's simple - just multiply all three 1s together: 1×1×1 = 1.

How do I calculate cubic meters from centimeters?

To calculate cubic meters from centimeters:

1. Take each dimension that is in centimeters and divide it by 100 to convert it into meters.
2. Multiply the three dimensions in centimeters together.
3. Congrats — you've calculated the cubic meters.
Hanna Pamuła, PhD
Length
ft
in
Width
ft
in
Height
ft
in
Volume in cubic feet
ft³
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