How Many Milliliters Are in a Cup?
Quick Answer: 1 US cup = 240 mL (legal, exact) · 237 mL (customary, 8 fl oz) · 250 mL (metric cup)
At a glance
- 1 US cup (customary) = 236.588 mL (8 fl oz — what a measuring-cup set holds)
- 1 US legal cup = 240 mL (exact — nutrition labels, most recipe charts)
- 1 metric cup = 250 mL (Australia, NZ, most Canadian cookbooks)
If you need one number, use 240 mL. That's the US legal cup — exact by definition and what every US nutrition label uses. Your physical measuring cup probably holds 236.6 mL (the older US customary cup), but the 1.5% gap doesn't matter for cooking. If the recipe is Australian or a modern Canadian cookbook, switch to 250 mL — their measuring cups are bigger on purpose. Below you'll find the fractions, the UK cup, and a quick guide to which number your recipe actually expects.
How many mL in 1 cup?
cup → ml Quick Converter
Need more features? Try our complete cup to millilitre converter.
1 cup on the mL scale
1 US cup = 240 mL (legal, exact)
Which cup are you measuring?
"Cup" isn't a single volume. Six different cups show up in recipes, cookbooks, and coffee gear. Here's what each one is worth and where you'll run into it.
| System | 1 cup = mL | Where you'll see it |
|---|---|---|
| US legal cup | 240 mL (exact) | US nutrition labels, modern recipe charts, serving sizes |
| US customary cup | 236.588 mL (≈237) | Traditional US recipes; the volume of a standard measuring-cup set (8 fl oz) |
| Metric cup | 250 mL (exact) | Australia, New Zealand, most Canadian cookbooks, some European recipes |
| Imperial cup (UK) | 284.131 mL (≈284) | Pre-1970s British cookbooks. Modern UK recipes use grams and mL instead |
| Japanese rice cup (gō) | 180 mL | Rice cookers and sake measurement in Japan |
| "Coffee cup" | ~150 mL (5 fl oz) | Drip-coffee-maker capacity ratings ("12-cup carafe"); some older European recipes |
Ingredient-specific weight questions ("1 cup of flour in grams") depend on density, not the cup. For those, use our Cooking Volume to Weight converter.
237, 240, or 250 — which one do you need?
- Recipe from a US cookbook or food blog? Use 240 mL. Close enough to the 236.6 mL in your measuring cup that the difference disappears in cooking. Round 240 makes fractions clean (½ = 120, ¼ = 60).
- Recipe from Australia, New Zealand, or a modern Canadian source? Use 250 mL. Their measuring cups are built for it — a US cup will under-pour by about 4%.
- Reading a US nutrition label? It's 240 mL by law — exact.
- Converting old UK or Commonwealth recipes (pre-1970s)? Likely the Imperial cup, 284 mL. If the cookbook is newer, default to 250 mL.
The gap between 236.6 and 240 never matters for cooking — it's under 1.5%. The gap between 240 and 250 does matter in baking, where it's nearly 4%. Know your recipe's origin and you'll know which cup.
Did you know? Fun fact
The US "legal cup" (240 mL) was invented for the nutrition label. Congress needed a round metric number for serving sizes in 1990, so regulators rounded the 236.588 mL customary cup up to a neat 240. That's why your cereal box and your grandmother's cookie recipe disagree by 3 mL.
How many cups in a millilitre?
Not a practical question on its own — 1 mL is about 0.004 cups, a few drops. More useful in reverse, for common metric amounts:
- 100 mL ≈ 0.42 US cup (a bit under ½ cup)
- 250 mL = 1 metric cup ≈ 1.06 US cups (so a metric cup is a heaped US cup)
- 500 mL ≈ 2.11 US cups (just over 2)
- 1 litre (1000 mL) ≈ 4.23 US cups (just over a US quart)
How many mL in half a cup?
Half a US cup = 120 mL (legal, exact) or 118 mL (customary). Both round to 120 mL for any kitchen use. Metric half-cup is 125 mL. Quick way to picture it: half a cup is the same as 4 fluid ounces, which is the same as 8 tablespoons. If you only own a 1-cup measure, fill it halfway and stop when the meniscus hits the ½-cup line on the side.
Common cup amounts in mL
Using the US legal cup (240 mL). If your recipe uses the metric cup, multiply the numbers by 1.042 — or just swap the "1 cup" row for 250 mL and everything scales.
| Amount | mL (US legal) | Also useful to know |
|---|---|---|
| ½ cup | 120 mL | 4 fl oz · 8 tbsp |
| 1 cup | 240 mL | 8 fl oz · 16 tbsp |
| 1½ cups | 360 mL | 12 fl oz |
| 2 cups | 480 mL | 1 US pint · 16 fl oz |
| 3 cups | 720 mL | 24 fl oz · 1½ pints |
| 4 cups | 960 mL | 1 US quart · 32 fl oz |
| 8 cups | 1.92 L | ½ US gallon · 64 fl oz |
Word order matters
- "How many half-cups in a cup?" → 2 (two half-cup scoops make a cup)
- "How many mL in a half cup?" → 120 mL (the volume of that half-cup scoop)
Same words, reversed. Always check which question you're answering.
The formula
mL = cups × 240 (US legal cup, exact)
Or: mL = cups × 236.588 (US customary) · mL = cups × 250 (metric cup)
The US customary cup derives from the fluid ounce: 1 cup = 8 fl oz, and 1 fl oz = 29.5735 mL, so 1 cup = 236.588 mL. The 240 mL legal cup is a deliberate round-up used on nutrition labels. Both are fine in the kitchen; pick the one that matches your recipe's origin.
Cup to mL conversion table — all three systems
| Cups | US customary (mL) | US legal (mL) | Metric cup (mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⅛ cup | 29.6 | 30 | 31.3 |
| ¼ cup | 59.1 | 60 | 62.5 |
| ⅓ cup | 78.9 | 80 | 83.3 |
| ½ cup | 118.3 | 120 | 125 |
| ⅔ cup | 157.7 | 160 | 166.7 |
| ¾ cup | 177.4 | 180 | 187.5 |
| 1 cup | 236.6 | 240 | 250 |
| 1¼ cups | 295.7 | 300 | 312.5 |
| 1½ cups | 354.9 | 360 | 375 |
| 1¾ cups | 414.0 | 420 | 437.5 |
| 2 cups | 473.2 | 480 | 500 |
| 3 cups | 709.8 | 720 | 750 |
| 4 cups | 946.4 | 960 | 1000 |
Need an arbitrary value? Use the full cup to millilitre converter or the extended conversion table.
What about UK or Imperial cups?
The old Imperial cup is 284.131 mL — about 10 Imperial fluid ounces. It was standard in British cookbooks before the UK moved to metric, and you'll still bump into it in vintage recipes. Modern UK and Irish recipes almost never use cups at all; they work in grams and millilitres. So if you're reading a 2020 British baking book, don't worry about the Imperial cup. If you're reading your grandmother's handwritten notes from Glasgow in 1962, you probably should — but adding 15% to a US cup (284 vs 240) gets you close enough for most recipes.
How to measure a cup accurately
Reading the meniscus
Liquid curves against the side of a glass measuring cup. The flat part in the middle (the meniscus) is what you read, not the edge that climbs the wall. Put the cup on a level surface and bring your eye down to the line — tilt the cup toward you and you'll under-pour by 10 mL easily.
US measuring cups vs metric sets
They look identical and they're not. A US set gives you ¼, ⅓, ½, and 1 cup at 236.6 mL. A metric set gives you 60, 80, 125, and 250 mL — the same fractions of 250, not 240. If your recipe and your cup set come from different countries, the difference compounds: a US ¼ cup of milk in an Australian recipe is ~13% short.
Pro tip for baking
A kitchen scale beats cups for flour, sugar, and anything dry. Flour in particular varies 20% depending on how you scoop it. If the recipe gives grams alongside cups, use the grams — it's the more accurate number. For liquids, a good glass measuring cup is perfectly fine.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many mL are in 1 US cup?
One US cup equals 240 mL using the US legal cup (the standard on nutrition labels, defined as exactly 240 mL). The traditional US customary cup — the one built into most measuring-cup sets — is 236.588 mL, usually rounded to 237 mL. The difference is under 1.5%, small enough that you can use 240 mL in any normal recipe without changing the result.
How many mL in half a cup?
120 mL (US legal, exact), or 118 mL if you're being strict about the US customary cup. Both round to 120 mL for kitchen use. In a metric-cup country (Australia, NZ, most Canadian cookbooks), half a cup is 125 mL.
How many mL in 2/3 of a cup?
160 mL for a US legal cup (two-thirds of 240). That's 158 mL in US customary and 167 mL in metric. 160 mL is the safe everyday number — pour 2/3 of the way up your 1-cup measure, or count out 10 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons.
How many mL in a 1/4 cup?
60 mL for a US legal cup, 59 mL for US customary. Both round to 60 mL. A 1/4 cup is also 4 tablespoons or 2 fluid ounces — handy if your recipe mixes units.
How many mL in a 1/3 cup?
80 mL for a US legal cup (one-third of 240). That's 79 mL customary, 83 mL metric. A 1/3 cup is roughly 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon.
How many mL in a cup of water, milk, or coffee?
Same answer for all of them: 240 mL. Volume-to-volume conversions don't depend on what's inside. The cup holds the same space whether it's water, milk, oil, or coffee. Weight changes with the ingredient (water weighs 240 g, oil weighs about 218 g), but volume doesn't. For weight conversions, see our Cooking Volume to Weight converter.
How many mL in an Imperial (UK) cup?
About 284 mL — that's the old British Imperial cup (10 Imperial fl oz). Modern UK recipes almost never use cups; they measure by grams and millilitres instead. If you see "1 cup" in a pre-1970s UK cookbook, it's probably this 284 mL Imperial cup. Anything newer usually follows the metric 250 mL cup or the US 240 mL cup.
What's the difference between the 240 mL and 236.6 mL cup?
The 236.588 mL cup is the US customary cup — historically defined as 8 US fluid ounces. The 240 mL cup is the US legal cup — defined by US law for nutrition labelling as exactly 240 mL, rounded up for convenience. Physical measuring-cup sets generally hold the customary 236.6 mL. Nutrition panels and most modern recipe conversion charts use 240 mL. The 1.5% gap never matters in cooking; it only shows up when you multiply many cups together for batch production.
How many half-cups fit in a cup, vs how many mL in a half cup?
Word order changes everything. Half-cups in a cup = 2 (two half-cup scoops fill one cup). mL in a half cup = 120 mL (the volume of that half-cup scoop). Same words, reversed meaning.
Related Cooking Conversions
- How many cups in a pint? — 2 cups
- How many cups in a quart? — 4 cups
- How many cups in a gallon? — 16 cups
- How many ounces in a cup? — 8 fl oz
- How many tablespoons in a cup? — 16 tbsp
- How many teaspoons in a tablespoon? — 3 tsp
- Cooking Volume to Weight Converter — "How much does 1 cup of flour weigh?"
- Cooking Weight to Volume Converter — "Convert 125 g flour to cups"
- All Cooking Measurement Tools
This page uses the US legal cup (240 mL, exact) as its default answer because it's what nutrition labels and modern US recipe charts assume. The older US customary cup (236.588 mL, 8 fl oz) is disclosed throughout. The metric cup (250 mL, used in Australia, New Zealand, and most Canadian cookbooks) and the obsolete Imperial cup (284.131 mL, pre-1970s UK) are included for cross-reference.