What is millilitre?

A millilitre is a metric unit of volume equal to one thousandth of a litre. It is commonly used in medicine, cooking, laboratory measurements, and the labelling of food and beverage products.

Real-world uses

Millilitres are used for medication dosages (cough syrup, injectable solutions), cooking measurements, cosmetic product volumes, and laboratory reagent quantities. A standard medical syringe is graduated in mL, and espresso shots are typically 25–30 mL.

History

The millilitre emerged naturally from the litre with metric prefix conventions. It became essential in medicine and laboratory science where precise small-volume measurements are critical. In medical contexts, "cc" (cubic centimetre) was long used interchangeably with mL.

Common mistakes

Confusing millilitres with cubic centimetres—they are numerically equal (1 mL = 1 cm³) but conceptually different units. Also, mixing up mL with mg; one is volume, the other is mass.

What is Imperial fluid ounce?

An Imperial fluid ounce is a volume unit used in the United Kingdom equal to approximately 28.41 millilitres. It is used in British cooking recipes, beverage servings, and pharmaceutical labelling.

Real-world uses

Imperial fluid ounces are used in the United Kingdom, Canada (in some contexts), and other Commonwealth countries for beverage serving sizes and recipe measurements. A British pint is 20 Imperial fluid ounces, compared to the US pint of 16 US fluid ounces.

History

The Imperial fluid ounce was defined by the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, which established the Imperial gallon based on the volume of 10 pounds of water at 62°F. One Imperial fluid ounce is 1/160 of that gallon.

Common mistakes

Assuming Imperial and US fluid ounces are the same. An Imperial fluid ounce is about 28.41 mL versus 29.57 mL for the US version. This means an Imperial pint (568 mL) is larger than a US pint (473 mL).

When is this conversion used?

Converting between millilitre and Imperial fluid ounce is common when working across metric and imperial systems, such as international trade, travel between countries with different measurement standards, or following instructions from a different region.

Worked examples

1 millilitre = 0.03519508 Imperial fluid ounce

1 Imperial fluid ounce = 0.02841306 litre

How to convert millilitre to Imperial fluid ounce

To convert millilitre to Imperial fluid ounce, multiply the value by 0.03519508.

To convert Imperial fluid ounce back to millilitre, multiply by 28.4130625.

Measurement standards

The cubic metre is the SI derived unit of volume. The litre, equal to exactly one cubic decimetre (0.001 m³), is accepted by the BIPM for use alongside SI units. Both the lowercase "l" and uppercase "L" are approved symbols for the litre.

Did you know?

An Olympic swimming pool holds 2,500 cubic metres of water — about 2.5 million litres. The Amazon River discharges roughly 209,000 cubic metres per second, enough to fill 84 Olympic pools every single second.

Quick reference: millilitre to Imperial fluid ounce

millilitreImperial fluid ounce
0.10.00351951
0.50.01759754
10.03519508
20.07039016
50.1759754
100.3519508
250.87987699
501.75975399
1003.51950797
2508.79876993
50017.59753986
1,00035.19507973

Common values

millilitreImperial fluid ounce
A teaspoon5 millilitre0.1759754 Imperial fluid ounce
A cup of coffee250 millilitre8.79876993 Imperial fluid ounce
A water bottle500 millilitre17.59753986 Imperial fluid ounce
A bathtub300,000 millilitre10,558.52391836 Imperial fluid ounce
A swimming pool (Olympic)2.500000e+09 millilitre87,987,699.31963512 Imperial fluid ounce

Available Volume units

More millilitre conversions