Cubic Yard Calculator
Convert a length, width and depth into cubic yards, feet, metres and litres.
Last reviewed September 19, 2026
Result
Buy 1.8519 yd³ cubic yards
No allowance is added. This is a volume conversion, not an order. Anything you are buying by the yard, from concrete to mulch, wants a margin on top, and the calculator for that material adds it.
- Surface area covered
- 100 ft²
https://calcgallery.com/area-volume/cubic-yard-calculator/
Results are estimates for planning only. Actual needs vary with site conditions, products and workmanship. Always confirm quantities with your supplier and follow local building codes and manufacturer instructions. Read the full disclaimer
How to use it
- Choose rectangular or circular.
- Enter the length and width, or the diameter.
- Enter the depth. Depths are usually in inches or millimetres while the plan is in feet or metres, and the units handle that.
- Read the volume in cubic yards, cubic feet, cubic metres and litres.
How it is calculated
Volume is an area times a depth:
rectangular V = length × width × depth
circular V = π × (diameter ÷ 2)² × depthThe only difficulty is units. Depth is nearly always measured in inches while length and width are in feet, so the depth has to be converted before multiplying. Six inches is 0.5 ft, which makes a 10 by 10 ft area at 6 in deep 50 ft³, and 50 divided by 27 is 1.85 cubic yards.
Working in metric avoids the arithmetic but not the care: 150 mm is 0.15 m, not 0.15 of anything else.
Practical tips
Order in the units your supplier quotes. Bulk materials are sold by the cubic yard in the US and by the cubic metre or the tonne elsewhere. A cubic metre is about 1.31 cubic yards, so the two are close enough to confuse and far enough apart to matter.
Check whether they sell by weight. Many aggregate suppliers quote tons rather than yards, and the conversion depends on the material’s density and how wet it is. Ask for both figures if you are comparing quotes.
Measure the depth you will actually end up with. Gravel and soil compact, sometimes by a fifth. If you want 4 in of finished depth after compaction you need to order more than 4 in of loose material.
Round up to the delivery increment. Suppliers deliver in half or whole yards. Working out that you need 2.1 yards is useful mostly for knowing you should order 2.5.
Break odd shapes into pieces. A drive that widens at the top is two rectangles or a trapezoid, and adding two simple volumes is safer than averaging a width.
With your numbers
- Area = 10 ft × 10 ft = 100 ft²
- Volume = that × 6 in deep = 1.8519 yd³
Quick reference
No allowance is added. This is a volume conversion, not an order. Anything you are buying by the yard, from concrete to mulch, wants a margin on top, and the calculator for that material adds it.
| Job | Volume |
|---|---|
| 10 × 10 ft, 6 in deep | 1.8519 yd³ |
| 10 × 10 ft, 4 in deep | 1.2346 yd³ |
| 20 × 20 ft, 4 in deep | 4.9383 yd³ |
| 12 × 20 ft driveway, 6 in | 4.4444 yd³ |
| 4 ft circle, 6 in deep | 0.2327 yd³ |
| 3 × 3 m, 150 mm deep | 1.35 m³ |
| 6 × 4 m, 100 mm deep | 2.4 m³ |
| 1.2 m circle, 150 mm deep | 0.1696 m³ |
Common questions
- How many cubic yards is 10 by 10 feet at 6 inches deep?
- 1.8519 cubic yards, which is 50 cubic feet or 1.41584 cubic metres. Six inches is half a foot, so the volume is 10 × 10 × 0.5 in cubic feet, then divided by 27.
- How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard?
- Twenty-seven, because a cubic yard is three feet in each direction and three cubed is 27. It is the conversion worth memorising, since materials are quoted in yards and measured in feet.
- How big is a cubic yard?
- About the size of a washing machine, and it weighs between one and two tons depending on the material. A standard pickup bed holds roughly two cubic yards of mulch but only about one of gravel, because weight rather than volume is the limit.
- Why does the depth have different units from the length?
- Because that is how people measure. A patio is measured in feet or metres across and in inches or millimetres deep. Mixing them in your head is where the errors come from, so each field takes its own unit.
- Should I round up when ordering?
- Yes, and by more than you think. Suppliers deliver in whole or half yards, materials settle and compact, and running short means a second delivery charge for a fraction of a load. Ten per cent over is normal.
- Does this work for concrete, gravel, mulch and soil?
- The volume does, since volume is volume. What it does not do is add the waste allowance or the compaction factor each material needs, or convert to weight. The material calculators do that.