cm to ft and in Converter — Bidirectional
Convert between centimetres and the feet-plus-inches compound format in either direction with instant results.
Direction
cm
5 ft 10.87 in (70.866 total inches)
- 1
Total inches
180 ÷ 2.54 = 70.8661 inch = 2.54 cm exactly (international definition since 1959). - 2
Remaining inches
70.866 − 5 × 12 = 10.87 - 3
Whole feet
floor(70.866 ÷ 12) = 5
How does this calculator work?
To convert cm to ft+in: total inches = cm ÷ 2.54; feet = floor(total ÷ 12); remaining inches = total mod 12. To reverse: cm = (ft × 12 + in) × 2.54. Both directions use exact definitions (1 in = 2.54 cm, 1 ft = 12 in).
Formula
How this is calculated
The conversion between centimetres and the compound foot-plus-inch format rests on two exact international definitions: 1 inch = 2.54 cm (the international inch, exact since 1959) and 1 foot = 12 inches (exact). These mean 1 foot = 30.48 cm exactly.
To convert cm to feet and inches: divide centimetres by 2.54 to obtain total inches, then divide total inches by 12 — the whole-number part (floor) is the number of full feet, and the decimal remainder is the leftover inches. To convert in the opposite direction: multiply feet by 12 to express them as inches, add any extra inches, then multiply the total by 2.54 to get centimetres.
The compound format is non-decimal, which makes it awkward to add or compare directly. This converter removes that friction by working through total-inches as an intermediate value. The conversion factors are exact (not approximations), so the only source of imprecision is display rounding — the calculator shows results to two or three decimal places, which introduces at most a sub-millimetre error.
Frequently asked questions
5 ft 10 in = (5 × 12 + 10) × 2.54 = 70 × 2.54 = 177.8 cm exactly.
180 cm ÷ 2.54 = 70.866 in total → 5 feet (60 in) with 10.866 in remaining = 5′ 10.87″, or 5 feet 11 inches to the nearest whole inch.
Because the conversion factor 2.54 is not a power of 10, dividing metric values by it generally yields non-terminating decimals in the imperial system, and vice versa. The conversion is exact as a ratio — only the decimal display truncates the result.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). cm to ft and in Converter — Bidirectional [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/cm-to-ft-in-converter
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "cm to ft and in Converter — Bidirectional." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/cm-to-ft-in-converter.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "cm to ft and in Converter — Bidirectional," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/cm-to-ft-in-converter
@misc{wecalculate_cm_to_ft_in_converter, title = {cm to ft and in Converter — Bidirectional}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/cm-to-ft-in-converter}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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