Metric and imperial area conversions
Area Converter
Convert square metres, square feet, square kilometres, acres and more instantly with our free online area converter. No signup required, works offline.
Convert Area
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How to Convert Area Units
Area conversion is essential for real estate, flooring, painting, landscaping and construction. Property listings use square metres across Europe and most of the world, square feet in the US and many Asian markets, and acres for land in the UK, US and Ireland. This converter links all the common units so you can compare property sizes and material quantities without manual maths.
Key Area Conversion Formulas
1 m² = 10.7639 ft²
1 ft² = 0.0929 m²
1 acre = 4,046.86 m² (43,560 ft²)
1 km² = 100 hectares = 1,000,000 m²
Area units are squares of length units, so the conversion factors are the squares of the length factors. That is why 1 metre is 3.281 feet but 1 square metre is 10.764 square feet (3.281 squared). The calculator applies these squared factors automatically, so you never need to remember whether to multiply or square.
Common Area Conversions
| Unit | Equals | Real-world reference |
|---|---|---|
| 1 square metre (m²) | 10.764 ft² | Roughly the area of a standard doormat |
| 1 square foot (ft²) | 0.0929 m² | A US letter sheet of paper is about 0.93 ft² |
| 1 acre | 4,047 m² / 0.405 ha | About the size of an American football field |
| 1 hectare (ha) | 10,000 m² / 2.471 acres | A football (soccer) pitch is about 0.7 ha |
| 1 square kilometre (km²) | 247.1 acres | A small town centre |
| 100 m² | 1,076 ft² | A typical two-bedroom flat in the UK |
Practical Uses for an Area Converter
- Real estate: Comparing flat sizes listed in m² versus ft² when moving between countries or browsing international listings
- Flooring and tiling: Calculating how much flooring or paint you need when product coverage is quoted per m² or per ft²
- Gardening and land: Understanding plot sizes in acres, hectares or square metres for buying or planning
- Construction: Quoting and comparing building footprints across metric and imperial specifications
- Moving house: Converting floor areas so furniture layouts make sense across measurement systems
Acres, Hectares and Football Pitches
The acre has been used for land measurement for over a thousand years. It was originally defined as the amount of land a team of oxen could plough in a day, and later standardised as 4,840 square yards (43,560 square feet). The hectare, by contrast, is a clean metric unit: exactly 10,000 square metres, or 100 metres by 100 metres. Because both units appear in property and agricultural contexts around the world, conversions between them are constant sources of questions, and this tool settles them instantly with exact factors.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many square feet are in a square metre?
One square metre equals 10.7639 square feet. To convert m² to ft², multiply by 10.764. To convert ft² to m², divide by 10.764. Use our area converter for instant results.
How many square metres are in an acre?
One acre is 4,046.86 square metres, or 0.4047 hectares. A typical UK suburban garden is between 0.1 and 0.25 acres.
What is the difference between an acre and a hectare?
A hectare is 2.471 acres, or 10,000 square metres. The hectare is the standard metric unit for land; the acre is the standard imperial unit. Roughly, 2.5 acres equal 1 hectare.
How do I convert square feet to square metres?
Multiply the area in square feet by 0.0929 to get square metres. For example, a 1,000 ft² flat is 92.9 m².
Why isn't 1 m² equal to 3.28 ft²?
Because area is two-dimensional. 1 metre is 3.281 feet, but 1 square metre is 3.281 × 3.281 = 10.764 square feet. You must square the length conversion factor.
Does the area converter work offline?
Yes. All conversions run locally in your browser with exact factors, so the tool works offline and no data leaves your device.