Inches to Centimeters

About this conversion

The inch survives in surprising corners of a metric world. Television and phone screens are still sold by their diagonal in inches everywhere, bicycle frames carry inch markings, and American lumber keeps its nominal inch sizes even when shipped abroad. Sewing and dressmaking patterns from the United States give seam allowances in inches, while fabric sold in Europe is measured in centimeters. Carpenters and 3D-printing hobbyists constantly bounce between the two, since American plans are drafted in inches and metric hardware arrives in millimeters. The conversion itself is the friendliest in the whole field: an inch was fixed at exactly 2.54 centimeters in 1959, a clean number that students can memorize and multiply mentally. The reference table below runs from single inches to the five-foot heights that appear on driver's licenses and door frames.

Quick reference

Common values at a glance

Real-world example

Questions & answers

Frequently asked questions