Liters to cups converter, with the cup you mean.

To convert liters to cups, multiply the liters by about 4.2268. That is the US cup, which holds 8 US fluid ounces. So 1 L is 4.2268 cups, 2 L is 8.454 cups and 0.5 L is 2.113 cups. If your recipe uses a 250 mL metric cup, 1 liter is exactly 4 cups, so check which one before you pour.

How to use the converter

1. Type the amount in the Liters (L) box. A decimal such as 2.5 or a fraction such as 3/4 works.
2. The big result shows US cups (cup). Use Decimals in the side column to fix the number of places.
3. The cards show the same amount in metric cups (250 mL), nutrition-label cups (240 mL), US fluid ounces and quarts.
4. Type cups in the second box, or press ⇄, for cups to liters.
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.

Three cups, three answers

NIST Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C lists the US measuring cup as "8 fluid ounces (exactly)", about 237 mL, and gives the fluid ounce as 29.573 53 mL (checked 24 Oct 2026). The US nutrition-label rule, 21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii), says "a cup means 240 mL" for labelling (checked 24 Oct 2026). A 250 mL metric cup is used by some recipes; no official page was found for it, so this page treats it as the size those recipes use, not a standard.

Worked examples

• A 1 L carton of milk. 1 × 4.2268 = 4.23 US cups. That is just over four cups.
• A 1.5 L bottle. 6.34 US cups, or 6.25 label cups.
• A 2 L bottle of soda. 8.454 US cups, which is 67.63 fl oz.
• A 3 L stockpot recipe. 12.68 US cups, or exactly 12 metric cups.
• A 0.25 L serving. 1.0567 US cups, close to one cup.
• Back the other way. 6 US cups = 1.4195 L. Type 6 in the cups box.

Common bottle sizes in cups

Using a jug without a mark

If your jug has no cup marks, count out the cups. For 1.5 L that is 6.3 US cups, so six full cups and a little under a third of the seventh. Use a measuring cup, fill it 6 times and top up the rest. For exact baking, use mL on the jug and the mL to cups page.

Large containers

The cup count gets long for big volumes, so gallons help. A 5 L container is 21.13 US cups, or 1.321 gallons. A 10 L bucket is 42.3 cups, or 2.642 gallons. A 20 L jug is 84.5 cups and 5.283 gallons. For the full gallon table see Liters to gallons.

Check the size of your measuring cup

The US cup is 236.59 mL, the label cup is 240 mL and the metric cup is 250 mL. The gap between the US cup and the metric cup is 13.4 mL per cup, which is small for one cup but adds up in a big batch. Take 8 cups: with the metric cup that is 2 L, and with the US cup it is 1.893 L. For baking, use the cup that came with the recipe.

Mistakes to avoid

The first is mixing dry cups and liquid cups. A cup of flour by weight is not the same as a cup of milk, and this page converts volume only. The second is using the liter-to-cup factor for a UK recipe that says "cup" without a size. The third is rounding too early. 1 liter is 4.2268 cups, and rounding that to 4 gives an error of about 5.4 percent. The exact factor is shown under the result.

See also Liters to gallons, Ounces to cups, mL to cups and Unit converter.