Area Converter
Convert an area between ten units, from the square millimetre up to the square mile, covering both the small scales used in construction and the large ones used for land. Area factors are the square of the corresponding length factors — because one foot is 0.3048 metres, one square foot is 0.3048² square metres — so everything follows from the exact length definitions. The acre and hectare, the two common land units, are included alongside the metric and imperial squares.
How to use this tool
- Type the area you want to convert into the Value field.
- Pick the unit your number is currently in from the From menu.
- Pick the unit you want the answer in from the To menu.
- Read the result as you type — there is no button to press.
- Switch on “Show every equivalent unit” to see the same area across all ten units.
The formula
Area uses the square metre as its base unit. Because area is length squared, each area ratio is the square of the matching length ratio — a foot is 0.3048 m, so a square foot is 0.3048² m².
square metres = value × m²_per_unit
result = square metres ÷ m²_per_target- m²_per_unit
- Square metres in one unit of the input
- hectare
- 10,000 m², a square 100 m on each side
- acre
- 4,046.8564224 m², historically a day’s ploughing
Doubling a length quadruples the area. A room twice as long and twice as wide has four times the floor area, which is why area ratios are never the same as length ratios.
Worked examples
Square metres to square feet for a room
- Given
- 100 square metres
- Result
- 1076.391042 square feet
100 m² ÷ 0.3048² m² per square foot = 1076.39 ft². Area factors are the square of the length factors.
Acres to hectares for land
- Given
- 5 acres
- Result
- 2.023428 hectares
One acre is 4,046.8564 m² and one hectare is 10,000 m², so 5 acres = 20,234.28 m² = 2.023 ha.
Square feet in an acre
- Given
- 1 acre
- Result
- 43560 square feet
An acre is defined as 43,560 square feet, historically the area a team could plough in a day.
Frequently asked questions
An acre is 43,560 square feet, or about 4,046.9 square metres — roughly the size of a standard football pitch without the run-off areas. It originated as the area a yoke of oxen could plough in a day. This converter relates it exactly to both metric and imperial units.
About 10.7639 square feet, which is 1 divided by 0.3048 squared. Note that this is not the same as the linear conversion — because area scales with the square of length, the factor is roughly 10.76, not 3.28.
A hectare is 10,000 square metres — a metric land unit equal to about 2.471 acres. The acre is the imperial equivalent at 4,046.9 square metres. Land is quoted in hectares in most of the world and in acres in the US, UK and a few others.
Because area is length multiplied by length. If a foot is 0.3048 metres, then a square foot is 0.3048 × 0.3048 = 0.0929 square metres. This is why converting area needs different numbers from converting length, even between the same unit systems.
Yes. They derive from the exact length definitions squared, so no approximation is introduced. Only the final displayed figure is rounded for readability.
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