Convert milliliters (mL) to cups and back. Supports US, metric, imperial, and Japanese cups with fraction display, fill chart, and standard comparison.
Milliliters and cups are both common recipe measures, but the word "cup" does not mean the same thing in every country. A US cup, a metric cup, an imperial cup, and a Japanese cup all differ, so the same milliliter value can turn into different cup counts. That matters when a recipe from one region has to be measured with a cup from another. It also means the same label can look familiar even when the actual volume is not.
This converter handles all four cup standards and shows the nearest fraction plus related units like fluid ounces, tablespoons, and teaspoons. The fill chart and comparison table make it easier to see how the same mL amount maps across measurement systems. That makes the page useful for both quick kitchen checks and more precise recipe adjustments.
Use it when a recipe is written in milliliters but the person reading it measures in cups.
A cup is not a universal unit. This page keeps the standard explicit and shows the fraction form people actually use when measuring ingredients in the kitchen. It is especially helpful when a recipe was written for a different country and the cup size is not obvious from context. It also gives you a quick sanity check before you scale a recipe up or down.
US cups = mL ÷ 236.588 Metric cups = mL ÷ 250 Imperial cups = mL ÷ 284.131 Japanese cups = mL ÷ 200
Result: 1.585 cups ≈ 1 ½ cups + 1.3 tbsp
375 mL ÷ 236.588 = 1.585 US cups. Closest practical measure: 1 ½ cups, or about 1 cup + 4.7 fl oz.
The US customary cup is 236.588 mL, the metric cup (used in Australia and New Zealand) is exactly 250 mL, the imperial cup is 284.131 mL, and the Japanese cup is just 200 mL. Using the wrong cup can change a recipe by 10–40 %, which matters enormously in baking.
US FDA nutrition labels round the cup to 240 mL for simplicity. The legal US cup is 236.588 mL. The 3.4 mL difference (1.4 %) is negligible for nutrition math but worth knowing for recipe precision.
When adapting a recipe from another country: 1) Identify which cup standard is intended. 2) Convert all volumes to mL. 3) Re-express in your local cup standard. This eliminates ambiguity and ensures consistent results across measurement systems.
236.588 mL, often rounded to 237 mL or 240 mL on labels. The rounded label value is common on nutrition panels, but the exact value is what matters for baking.
250 mL = 1 metric cup, but about 1.06 US cups. That small difference can still matter in recipes that depend on precision.
200 mL. Japanese recipes use a smaller cup standard.
US cup = 236.6 mL; imperial (UK) cup = 284.1 mL — about 20 % larger. That is why recipes from different countries should never be mixed without conversion.
US recipes usually mean 236.6 mL, Australian recipes 250 mL, and Japanese recipes 200 mL. UK recipes more often use mL or fl oz.
US: 118.3 mL. Metric: 125 mL. Imperial: 142.1 mL. Japanese: 100 mL.