Height Converter
Convert height between feet-and-inches and centimetres, in the format heights are quoted in — including the decimal-feet trap that adds inches.
| Centimeters | Feet & inches |
|---|---|
| 150 cm | 4′ 11″ |
| 155 cm | 5′ 1″ |
| 160 cm | 5′ 3″ |
| 165 cm | 5′ 5″ |
| 170 cm | 5′ 7″ |
| 175 cm | 5′ 9″ |
| 180 cm | 5′ 11″ |
| 185 cm | 6′ 1″ |
| 190 cm | 6′ 3″ |
The one-line guard that stops this reading "5 ft 12 in"
Converting centimetres to feet and inches means taking the total inches, keeping the whole feet, and rounding what is left. Do those in the obvious order — floor the feet, then round the inches — and nothing ever carries. A height a hair under a whole foot has a remainder just below 12, rounding lifts it to exactly 12.00, and the feet stay where they were:
| Centimetres | Naive result | Correct | Distance to the whole foot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 121.91 | 3 ft 12 in | 4 ft 0 in | 0.01 cm |
| 152.39 | 4 ft 12 in | 5 ft 0 in | 0.01 cm |
| 182.87 | 5 ft 12 in | 6 ft 0 in | 0.01 cm |
| 213.35 | 6 ft 12 in | 7 ft 0 in | 0.01 cm |
Exactly 4 heights between 100 and 220 cm do it, one just below each whole foot. They are narrow — a hundredth of a centimetre either side is clean:
| Centimetres | Naive result |
|---|---|
| 182.86 | 5 ft 11.99 in |
| 182.87 | 5 ft 12 in |
| 182.88 | 6 ft 0 in |
Narrow, and 182.87 cm is not an obscure number to type. The fix is to round the inches first and carry: if they reach 12, add a foot and reset to zero. This page does that, which is why the boxes above never show a twelve — but it is one line, and a converter written the obvious way does not have it.
And two decimal places of an inch is a tenth of a millimetre
Rounding the inches to two places discards up to half a hundredth of an inch, which is 0.0127 cm. Converting 1,201 heights from centimetres to feet and inches and straight back, 727 of them do not return the number they started as — by at most 0.01 cm.
That is a tenth of a millimetre and matters to nobody measuring a person. It is worth knowing only because it explains something that looks like a fault: type a centimetre value, tab away and tab back, and the number can come back very slightly different. The display is not losing your input — it is showing you what two decimal places of an inch are able to hold.
How to use
- Enter a height as feet and inches, or as centimetres.
- Read the converted height in the other format.
- Do not enter feet as a decimal — use the separate inches box.
- Compare against the table for common heights.
Frequently asked questions
What is 6 feet in centimetres?
182.88 cm, generally quoted as 183. Six foot is a culturally significant threshold in English-speaking countries in a way that 183 cm is not, which is why the metric figure sounds arbitrary and the imperial one does not.
Why is 5.5 feet not 5 foot 5?
Because a foot has twelve inches, not ten. 5.5 feet is five feet plus half a foot, which is six inches — so 5.5 feet is 5 foot 6. Treating the decimal as inches is the commonest height conversion error and always adds height.
What is 170 cm in feet and inches?
5 feet 6.9 inches, usually rounded to 5 foot 7. Rounding to the nearest inch loses up to about 1.3 cm, which is why converting back and forth repeatedly can drift by a centimetre or two.
How much does height vary through the day?
Typically one to two centimetres. Spinal discs compress under load through the day and rehydrate overnight, so you are measurably taller in the morning. Anyone measuring for a medical record or a record attempt has to account for it.
Which countries use which?
The US, UK and a handful of others quote personal height in feet and inches; most of the world uses centimetres. The UK is inconsistent even internally — a British medical record will be in centimetres while the same person describes themselves in feet.
How should I write a height?
Feet and inches as 5'11" or 5 ft 11 in; centimetres as a whole number, since a decimal implies precision that no ordinary measurement has. Nobody is 177.4 cm tall in any meaningful sense — they are about 177.
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