Quarts to Liters

The quart takes its name from being a quarter of a gallon. In US customary units a liquid quart is 2 pints or 32 fluid ounces, and four quarts make a gallon of 231 cubic inches, which fixes the quart at 57.75 cubic inches, or 0.946 L. It is the size of a carton of milk, a jar of stock and the standard bottle of motor oil.

Two other quarts exist. The US dry quart, used for berries and produce, is 1.101 L, and the British imperial quart is 1.137 L, a quarter of the 4.546 L imperial gallon. The converter uses the US liquid quart.

Car owners meet quarts at every oil change. American manuals give capacities in quarts, European ones in liters, and oil is sold in both: a 5-quart engine takes 4.73 L, so a 5 L jug covers it with a little to spare, while a 4 L jug falls short. Topping up by a quart adds 0.95 L.

Kitchen equipment is rated in quarts in the US. A 6-quart slow cooker or pressure cooker holds 5.7 L, an 8-quart stockpot 7.6 L, and a 4.5-quart stand-mixer bowl 4.3 L. When a European recipe asks for a 5 L pot, a 6-quart one is the matching size.

Because the two are close, people often swap them one for one. A US quart is about 5.4% smaller than a liter, so over larger amounts the gap adds up: 10 quarts is 9.46 L, not 10. Recipes tolerate it; oil capacities and chemical dilutions may not.

To go further up, see gallons to liters; for smaller units, try pints to milliliters. Every volume is in the unit converter.