Liters to Gallons
A US gallon is exactly 3.785411784 liters, so divide liters by 3.785 to get gallons: 10 L is 2.64 gal and a 50 L fuel tank holds 13.2 gal. The converter below uses US gallons; imperial gallons are covered further down.
1 liter = 0.264172 gallons
1 L = 0.264172 gal · multiply by 0.2641720524
Fuel, prices and fuel economy
Most of the world sells fuel by the liter, the US by the gallon. To compare a pump price, multiply the per-liter price by 3.785: 1.80 per liter is 6.81 per US gallon in the same currency. Car tanks are specified in liters in Europe and Asia, so a 45 L tank is 11.9 US gallons and a 70 L SUV tank is 18.5.
Fuel economy flips the units around. Europe states liters per 100 km, the US miles per US gallon, and the two are inversely related: mpg = 235.215 ÷ (L/100 km). A car using 6 L/100 km does 39.2 mpg, and one using 10 L/100 km does 23.5 mpg.
Liters to gallons conversion table
Rounded to six significant digits. Change any value in the converter above for an exact figure.
| Liters (L) | Gallons (gal) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.264172 |
| 2 | 0.528344 |
| 3 | 0.792516 |
| 4 | 1.05669 |
| 5 | 1.32086 |
| 6 | 1.58503 |
| 7 | 1.8492 |
| 8 | 2.11338 |
| 9 | 2.37755 |
| 10 | 2.64172 |
| 12 | 3.17006 |
| 15 | 3.96258 |
| 20 | 5.28344 |
| 25 | 6.6043 |
| 30 | 7.92516 |
| 40 | 10.5669 |
| 50 | 13.2086 |
| 60 | 15.8503 |
| 70 | 18.492 |
| 75 | 19.8129 |
| 80 | 21.1338 |
| 90 | 23.7755 |
| 100 | 26.4172 |
| Gallons (gal) | Liters (L) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3.78541 |
| 2 | 7.57082 |
| 3 | 11.3562 |
| 4 | 15.1416 |
| 5 | 18.9271 |
| 6 | 22.7125 |
| 7 | 26.4979 |
| 8 | 30.2833 |
| 9 | 34.0687 |
| 10 | 37.8541 |
| 12 | 45.4249 |
| 15 | 56.7812 |
| 20 | 75.7082 |
| 25 | 94.6353 |
| 30 | 113.562 |
| 40 | 151.416 |
| 50 | 189.271 |
| 60 | 227.125 |
| 70 | 264.979 |
| 75 | 283.906 |
| 80 | 302.833 |
| 90 | 340.687 |
| 100 | 378.541 |
How to convert liters to gallons
gal = L × 0.2641720524
1 L = 0.264172 gal
25 L × 0.2641720524 = 6.6043 gal
- Start with the value in liters.
- Multiply it by 0.2641720524.
- Round the result to the precision the job needs: whole numbers for everyday use, more decimals for engineering or recipes.
Two gallons and one liter
The US gallon descends from the old English wine gallon of 231 cubic inches, which the US kept after independence. Britain replaced its gallons in 1824 with the imperial gallon, originally the volume of 10 lb of water and now defined as exactly 4.54609 L. So 1 L is 0.264 US gallons but only 0.220 imperial gallons.
The liter has been exactly one cubic decimeter since 1964. Water gives a useful bridge: 1 L of water is about 1 kg, so a US gallon of water weighs about 8.34 lb, or 3.79 kg.
Common mistakes
Using the wrong gallon is the big one. A British or Canadian figure such as 50 mpg is in imperial gallons and equals about 41.6 US mpg. Mixing the inverted fuel-economy units is the other: you cannot convert L/100 km to mpg by multiplying, because a lower L/100 km figure means a better car.
For the reverse direction, use gallons to liters. Smaller volumes are on liters to milliliters.
Frequently asked questions
- How many US gallons is 20 liters?
- 20 L is 5.28 US gallons.
- How many gallons is a 1.5 liter bottle?
- 1.5 L is 0.396 US gallons, a little under 0.4 gal.
- How do I convert 5 L/100 km to mpg?
- Divide 235.215 by 5 to get 47.0 US mpg. For imperial mpg divide 282.481 by 5, which gives 56.5.
- Is 4 liters more or less than a gallon?
- More. 4 L is 1.057 US gallons, so a 4 L jug holds about 5.7% more than a US gallon jug.
- How many liters are in an imperial gallon?
- Exactly 4.54609 L, about 20% more than a US gallon.