Centimeters to Meters Converter

How many centimeters make a meter?

A meter contains 100 centimeters. The prefix centi- means one hundredth, so a centimeter is 0.01 m by definition and nothing is rounded in the conversion.

meters = centimeters ÷ 100Reverse it by multiplying meters by 100.

The meter is the SI base unit of length, and its size is fixed by defining the speed of light in vacuum as exactly 299,792,458 meters per second.

A mental shortcut

Dividing by 100 shifts the decimal marker two digits toward the left. 250 cm becomes 2.5 m, 75 cm becomes 0.75 m, and 8 cm becomes 0.08 m. If the number has fewer than two digits before the point, pad with zeros first: 8 is read as 08.

How to convert cm to m

1. Enter the length in centimeters in the upper box.
2. Read the result in meters from the lower box, which updates as you type.
3. Round it as you need; the tool itself shows up to four decimals.

Example 1. A child who is 134 cm tall is 134 ÷ 100 = 1.34 m.

Example 2. A hallway 2,450 cm long is 24.5 m long.

Example 3. A curtain rod of 187.5 cm is 1.875 m.

Areas and volumes follow the square and cube of the factor. 1 m² is 10,000 cm² and 1 m³ is 1,000,000 cm³. A floor of 40,000 cm² is therefore 4 m², not 400 m².

Lengths written in meters and centimeters

Measurements are often spoken as "2 meters 35", meaning 2 m and 35 cm. Turn the centimeter part into a fraction of a meter and add it: 35 ÷ 100 = 0.35, so the length is 2.35 m. Keep the two digits: 1 m 5 cm is 1.05 m, not 1.5 m.

In the other direction, take the whole meters first and read the rest as centimeters. 3.45 m is 3 m and 0.45 × 100 = 45 cm.

Centimeters to meters table

Common mistakes

• Dividing by 10 or 1,000. Dividing by 10 gives decimeters and by 1,000 would be right for millimeters to meters. For centimeters it is always 100.
• Moving the point the wrong way. A meter is the bigger unit, so the number of meters is smaller than the number of centimeters.
• Forgetting the rounding. The tool rounds to four decimals, so a length of a few thousandths of a centimeter shows as 0 m.

Need a different step? Try the meters to centimeters converter for the reverse, the centimeters to decimeters converter for a smaller jump, or the centimeters to millimeters converter to go finer.