Cups to mL Converter
1 US cup = 236.588 mL — call it 237 mL, or the 240 mL that recipes and nutrition labels round to. Type either box to convert any amount both ways.
Uses the US customary cup. Converting a UK or Australian recipe? Multiply its cups by 250 mL instead — see the cup-size table below.
Cups to mL conversion chart
The "exact" column uses the US customary cup (236.588 mL); the "rounded" column uses the 240 mL convention you'll see on US nutrition labels — the version most recipe writers intend.
| Cups | fl oz | mL (exact) | mL (rounded) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⅛ cup | 1 | 30 mL | 30 mL |
| ¼ cup | 2 | 59 mL | 60 mL |
| ⅓ cup | 2.67 | 79 mL | 80 mL |
| ½ cup | 4 | 118 mL | 120 mL |
| ⅔ cup | 5.33 | 158 mL | 160 mL |
| ¾ cup | 6 | 177 mL | 180 mL |
| 1 cup | 8 | 237 mL | 240 mL |
| 1¼ cups | 10 | 296 mL | 300 mL |
| 1⅓ cups | 10.67 | 315 mL | 320 mL |
| 1½ cups | 12 | 355 mL | 360 mL |
| 1¾ cups | 14 | 414 mL | 420 mL |
| 2 cups | 16 | 473 mL | 480 mL |
| 3 cups | 24 | 710 mL | 720 mL |
| 4 cups | 32 | 946 mL | 960 mL |
mL to cups
Going the other way — a European recipe lists millilitres and you only have US cup measures:
| Millilitres | US cups | Tablespoons |
|---|---|---|
| 50 mL | 0.21 cups | 3.4 tbsp |
| 100 mL | 0.42 cups | 6.8 tbsp |
| 125 mL | 0.53 cups | 8.5 tbsp |
| 150 mL | 0.63 cups | 10.1 tbsp |
| 200 mL | 0.85 cups | 13.5 tbsp |
| 250 mL | 1.06 cups | 16.9 tbsp |
| 300 mL | 1.27 cups | 20.3 tbsp |
| 375 mL | 1.59 cups | 25.4 tbsp |
| 400 mL | 1.69 cups | 27.1 tbsp |
| 500 mL | 2.11 cups | 33.8 tbsp |
| 750 mL | 3.17 cups | 50.7 tbsp |
| 1000 mL | 4.23 cups | 67.6 tbsp |
Not every "cup" is the same size
A "cup" is a different legal size depending on the country the recipe was written in:
| Cup standard | Size | Used in |
|---|---|---|
| US customary cup | 236.59 mL | US recipes (this page's converter) |
| US legal cup | 240 mL | US nutrition labels; common recipe rounding |
| Metric cup | 250 mL | UK (modern), Australia, New Zealand, Canada |
| Imperial cup | 284.13 mL | Old pre-metric British cookbooks (10 imp fl oz) |
| Japanese cup | 200 mL | Japan (rice-cooker cups are 180 mL) |
The US-vs-metric gap is ~5% — fine for soups and sauces, worth correcting when you're baking or scaling a recipe up.
Need a different conversion?
The volume converter also handles tablespoons, teaspoons and litres. Converting to weight instead? Millilitres only equal grams for water — for flour, sugar, butter and 80+ other ingredients use the cups to grams converter or the reverse grams to cups converter. And if you're halving a recipe, the recipe halving chart shows half of every cup measure in spoons you can actually use.
Frequently asked questions
How many mL are in a cup?
A US customary cup is exactly 236.588 mL — in practice, 237 mL, and US nutrition labels and most recipe writers round it to 240 mL. A metric cup, used in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, is 250 mL. This page (and US recipes generally) uses the US cup.
Is a cup 240 mL or 250 mL?
Both, depending on where the recipe was written. The US cup is 236.588 mL, rounded to 240 mL on nutrition labels; the metric cup used in the UK, Australia and New Zealand is 250 mL. The difference is only about 5%, which rarely matters for cooking — but for baking large quantities it can add up, so check the recipe's origin.
How many mL is half a cup?
Half a US cup is 118 mL (recipes often round it to 120 mL). Half a 250 mL metric cup is 125 mL.
How many mL is 3/4 cup?
3/4 of a US cup is 177 mL, commonly rounded to 180 mL. With a 250 mL metric cup it is 187.5 mL.
How many mL is 2/3 cup?
2/3 of a US cup is 158 mL, commonly rounded to 160 mL.
How many cups is 250 mL?
250 mL is 1.06 US cups — one US cup plus about 2½ teaspoons, so for most recipes you can treat 250 mL as 1 cup. In metric-cup countries (UK, Australia, New Zealand), 250 mL is exactly 1 cup.
How many cups is 500 mL?
500 mL is 2.11 US cups — about 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons — or exactly 2 metric cups.
Are UK and Australian cups the same as US cups?
No. Modern UK and Australian recipes use the 250 mL metric cup, about 5% larger than the 236.6 mL US cup. Very old British cookbooks may use the imperial cup of 284 mL (10 imperial fluid ounces), and a Japanese cup is 200 mL — so it pays to know where a recipe comes from.
Do millilitres of an ingredient equal grams?
Only for water and thin water-like liquids (1 mL of water weighs 1 g, so 1 US cup of water is about 237 g). Denser liquids like honey weigh more per mL, and oils slightly less. To convert a cup of any ingredient to grams, use the cups to grams converter.