Meter to Centimeter Converter

One meter is exactly 100 centimeters. Multiply meters by 100, or move the decimal point two places right. 3.5 m is 350 cm; 4.5 m is 450 cm; 1.25 m is 125 cm.

Why it is exactly 100

The prefix centi- means one hundredth, so a centimeter is a hundredth of a meter by definition. As with every metric step, the conversion is a shift of the decimal point rather than a calculation, and the factor carries no rounding at all.

Common values

Getting a feel for the scale

Height is the most common use. A person of 1.75 m is 175 cm, and clothing sizing, medical records and passport forms may ask for either. A standard interior door is about 200 cm tall, a kitchen worktop 90 cm high, and a single bed 190 cm long — all numbers you will meet as centimeters in a catalogue and as meters on a plan.

Common mistake

Shifting the wrong number of places. Two places gives centimeters, three gives millimeters. 3.5 m is 350 cm but 3,500 mm — and writing 3,500 cm would be 35 metres, which is the length of a swimming pool rather than a room.

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Quick answer: one meter equals 100 centimeters. So to convert meters to centimeters, multiply by 100.

How to convert meters to centimeters

centimeters = meters × 100

The meter is the SI base unit of length, defined by the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. Nearly every other length unit is now legally defined against it.

The centimeter, one hundredth of a meter, is the everyday small unit of the metric world: body height, clothing measurements and school rulers all speak in centimeters.

Meter to Centimeter conversion table

Need the opposite direction? Use the Centimeter to Meter converter, or read our complete guide to length conversions for every formula in one place.

Converting back: centimeters to meters

Divide by 100, or move the decimal point two places left. 175 cm is 1.75 m; 450 cm is 4.5 m. The same check applies in reverse — meters are the larger unit, so the number must get smaller.

This direction comes up most when a measurement was taken with a tape in centimeters and has to go onto a plan drawn in meters. Writing 450 cm as 4.5 m is correct; writing it as 45 m is a factor-of-ten error that a plausible-looking number will not flag for you.

Related metric steps

Every metric length conversion is the same operation with a different number of places: one place from centimeters to millimeters, two from meters to centimeters, three from meters to millimeters. Learn the ladder once and every pair follows.