Ounces to cups converter, fluid ounces to US cups.

To convert fluid ounces to cups, divide by 8. One US cup holds 8 US fluid ounces, so 16 fl oz is 2 cups, 12 fl oz is 1.5 cups and 4 fl oz is a half cup. This page converts fluid ounces, which measure volume. It cannot turn ounces of weight into cups, because that depends on what is in the cup. Flour, sugar and water all fill a cup, and they weigh different amounts.

How to use the converter

1. Type the amount in the US fluid ounces (fl oz) box. The big result shows US cups.
2. Read the cards under it for milliliters, tablespoons, teaspoons, and the metric cup of 250 mL and the nutrition-label cup of 240 mL.
3. Type cups in the US cups (cup) box to go the other way, for example 0.75 for three quarters of a cup.
4. Pick Decimals for a fixed number of places. Recipes usually want a fraction: 0.375 cup is 3/8 cup, which is 6 tablespoons.
5. Click a value in Common values, or press Print chart for a kitchen chart.

The definition

NIST Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C defines the US measuring cup as "8 fluid ounces (exactly)", which is half a liquid pint, and gives 237 milliliters for it. The gallon is exactly 231 cubic inches and holds 128 fluid ounces, so a US fluid ounce is 231 ÷ 128 cubic inches, which is exactly 29.5735295625 mL, and a cup is exactly 236.5882365 mL. A tablespoon is half a fluid ounce and a teaspoon a third of a tablespoon, both exact, so 16 tablespoons make a cup. Checked 18 Oct 2026.

Nutrition labels in the US use rounded household measures. 21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii) says a cup means 240 mL and 1 fl oz means 30 mL for labelling, which is not the same as the 236.588 mL cup. Many recipes outside the US call for a 250 mL "metric cup". We did not find an official page that fixes that number, so treat it as the recipe's own, and check which cup your recipe means.

Dry ounces do not convert to cups

An ounce of weight and a fluid ounce share a name and nothing else. A cup is a volume. To change a weight in ounces into cups, you need the density of the food. The same cup holds one weight of sifted flour, another of packed brown sugar and another of oats, and a converter that gives one answer for all of them is guessing. Weigh the food, or use the weight the recipe gives. If you only have weight ounces, convert them with the Ounces in a pound or the Grams to ounces converter and use a scale.

Shortcut and examples

Divide by 8, or halve three times. For 12 fl oz: half is 6, half again is 3, half again is 1.5 cups. There is no error: the relation is exact.

• A 12 fl oz can of soda. 12 ÷ 8 = 1.5 cups. That is 354.9 mL.
• 6 fl oz of cream. 6 ÷ 8 = 0.75 cup, which is 12 tablespoons.
• 20 fl oz of broth. 20 ÷ 8 = 2.5 cups, or 1 pint and 4 fl oz (1.25 pints).
• A 1 liter carton. 1,000 mL is 33.814 fl oz, which is 4.227 US cups.
• 2 US cups against 500 mL. 2 US cups is 473.18 mL. A recipe that means two metric cups wants 500 mL, which is 2.113 US cups. The difference is 26.82 mL, about 5.36 percent of the metric amount.

Common mistakes with cups

Treating ounces as a unit with one meaning is the big one. Next is the cup itself: US customary cup 236.588 mL, nutrition-label cup 240 mL, metric cup 250 mL. The gap between the first and last is 5.67 percent, which shows up in a cake. Last, UK and Canadian recipes may use imperial fluid ounces, which differ from the US one: the UK fluid ounce is about 28.41 mL, against 29.57 mL here. If a recipe gives milliliters, use them and skip the ounces. The ML to oz converter converts milliliters.

Fluid ounces, cups, tablespoons and milliliters

The table is a kitchen ladder. Every row is exact for the US system.

The three cups side by side

One cup of each kind, in milliliters and in US fluid ounces:

If a recipe is written for a 250 mL cup and you use a US cup, you pour 5.4 percent less. In a recipe for a loaf, that gap changes the dough. The fix is to follow the recipe's own measuring set, or to weigh the ingredient when the recipe gives grams.

Who needs ounces to cups

Cooks with a US recipe and a measuring jug marked in ounces. Bakers scaling a recipe up or down. Coffee and tea drinkers comparing cup sizes with mug sizes. Bartenders working in fluid ounces. Anyone reading a drink label in fl oz. For milliliters and other units use the unit converter.