Dl to liters converter, ten deciliters make one liter.

To convert dl to liters, divide the deciliters by 10. One deciliter is 0.1 liter, so 3 dl is 0.3 L, 7.5 dl is 0.75 L and 10 dl is exactly 1 L. It is the same as moving the decimal point one place to the left. The sum is exact, with nothing to round. The symbol is dL or dl, and both mean a tenth of a liter, which is 100 mL.

How to use the converter

1. Type the amount in the Deciliters (dL) box. A decimal such as 2.5 works.
2. The big result shows Liters (L). Use Decimals in the side column to fix the number of places.
3. The cards under the result show the same amount in other units.
4. Type in the second box, or press ⇄, to go the other way.
5. Click a row in Common values to load it. Copy result, Copy link, Copy table and Print chart keep the answer. Start again resets the box.
6. Under the tables, Convert a list takes many amounts at once. Paste one per line, for example a column from a spreadsheet, and read them all in the units shown above. Copy results copies the table, and the swap button turns the list around.

Where the 10 comes from

The SI prefix deci means one tenth. The BIPM list of SI prefixes and NIST metric SI prefixes both give deci as 10^-1, centi as 10^-2 and milli as 10^-3. NIST accepts the liter for use with the SI (NIST Guide to the SI, chapter 5) and says it equals one cubic decimeter. Pages checked 26 Oct 2026.

Worked examples

• 3 dl of milk. 3 ÷ 10 = 0.3 L, which is 300 mL or 1.268 US cups.
• 7.5 dl, a wine bottle. 0.75 L. A standard 750 mL wine bottle is 7.5 dl. 27 CFR 4.72 lists 750 mL among the US standard bottle sizes.
• 25 dl of water for a big pot. 2.5 L, or 10.567 US cups.
• 1.5 dl of cream. 0.15 L, or 150 mL.
• Back to deciliters. 0.75 L × 10 = 7.5 dl.

Deciliters in recipes

Some recipes, especially ones written in Europe, give liquids and flour in deciliters, because many measuring jugs are marked in dl. If your jug is in US cups, one deciliter is 0.42268 of a cup and one US cup is 2.3659 dl. A recipe that asks for 2.5 dl wants 250 mL, which is 1.06 US cups, a cup and a little more. The conversion is volume to volume, so it works for flour, rice or milk alike, but a deciliter of flour weighs less than a deciliter of water.

Common drink sizes

Sizes on bottles and cans are easier to read once they are all in one unit. These are the same volumes in four units.

Mistakes to avoid

The first mistake is dividing by 100, which gives the answer in the wrong unit (that is for centiliters). The second is mixing up dL with daL. The Handbook lists the dekaliter as daL, which is 10 liters (NIST Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C, checked 26 Oct 2026). The two differ by a factor of 100. The third is rounding the US cup: 1 dl is 0.4227 cup, so 2 dl is 0.845 cup, a little under a cup. The fourth is reading the capital L as the number 1.

See also Liters to dl, Cl to liters, Dl to mL and Liters to mL.