How Many Milliliters in One Cup? A Complete Measurement Conversion Guide

A milliliter, abbreviated as ml or mL, is a unit of volume in the metric system. One milliliter is equal to one thousandth of a liter, or 1 cubic centimeter. In the imperial system, that’s a small amount: .004 of a cup .002 of a pint, .001 of a quart, and .00026 of a gallon.

The metric system is the most common system of measurement around the world. The only nations that do not use the metric system are the United States, Myanmar, and Liberia.

The U.S. system of weights and measures is based on the imperial system, also known as the British Imperial System (Great Britain abolished the imperial system in 1965). The metric system primarily measures ingredients by weight, while the imperial system measures ingredients by volume, making conversions between them especially tricky when it comes to cooking and baking.

To make matters trickier, cups aren’t all standard in size. There are different ways to measure cups:

• Legal U.S. cup: the measurement used in cooking units, serving sizes, and nutrition labeling in the U.S. One legal cup equals 8 U.S. fluid ounces.
• Customary U.S. cup: how much a standard U.S. drinking cup holds.
• Imperial cup: the Imperial system measures fluid ounces differently than the U.S. system. One imperial cup equals 9.61 U.S. fluid ounces (or 10 imperial fluid ounces), making it slightly larger than one legal U.S. cup. The difference is negligible for a single cup but noticeable in large quantities.
• Metric cup: a measurement derived from the metric system, but not part of the modern form of the metric system, the International System of Units. One metric cup equals 8.45 U.S. fluid ounces, making it slightly larger than one legal U.S. cup but slightly smaller than one imperial cup.

Need a conversion chart yet? We have you covered.

1 legal U.S. cup = 240 milliliters
1 customary U.S. cup = 236.59 milliliters
1 imperial cup = 284.13 milliliters
1 metric cup = 250 milliliters

½ legal U.S. cup = 120 milliliters
½ customary U.S. cup = 118.3 milliliters
½ imperial cup = 142.07 milliliters
½ metric cup = 125 milliliters

⅓ legal U.S. cup = 80 milliliters
⅓ customary U.S. cup = 78.86 milliliters
⅓ imperial cup = 94.71 milliliters
⅓ metric cup = 83.33 milliliters

¼ legal U.S. cup = 60 milliliters
¼ customary U.S. cup = 59.15 milliliters
¼ imperial cup = 71.03 milliliters
¼ metric cup = 62.5 milliliters

8 U.S. fluid ounces = 236.59 milliliters

1 cup of coffee = 5.07 fluid ounces = 149.94 milliliters

1 bottle of water = 16.91 U.S. fluid ounces = 500 milliliters

1 carton of milk = 8 U.S. fluid ounces = 236.59 milliliters

You can also measure volume in cubic centimeters, cubic inches, cubic feet, and cubic meters. These conversions are more commonly used to measure the volume of objects rather than ingredients.

1 milliliter = 1 cubic centimeter

1 milliliter = .061 cubic inches

1 milliliter = 3.5315e-5 cubic feet

1 milliliter = 1e-6 cubic meters