Updated · Built and checked by the PlinzoTools team, formulas tested against published sources
Calculate volume in cubic yards from any dimensions, mixing feet and inches as needed.
This is a general-purpose volume calculator with no material or density attached to it -- just pure geometry, for whenever you need cubic yards from a length, width, and height and don't need a material-specific tool like the Gravel Calculator or Concrete Calculator.
Enter your length, width, and height, choosing feet or inches independently for each one. This flexibility matters in practice: it's common to know a footprint in feet but a depth in inches (a 10ft x 10ft area at a 4in depth, for example), and this calculator handles that mix without requiring you to convert units by hand first.
Cubic Feet = Length(ft) × Width(ft) × Height(ft)
Cubic Yards = Cubic Feet ÷ 27
Any dimension entered in inches is converted to feet (divided by 12) before multiplying, so every dimension is in the same unit by the time the multiplication happens.
Use this whenever you need a raw volume figure without any material context -- comparing container sizes, checking how much a truck bed or trailer holds, or as a quick sanity check before using one of this site's material-specific calculators (gravel, mulch, sand, topsoil, concrete) for an actual ordering estimate.
Suppose a hypothetical trench is 40 feet long, 18 inches wide, and 24 inches deep. Converted to feet that is 40 x 1.5 x 2, which is 120 cubic feet. Dividing by 27 gives about 4.44 cubic yards. This is useful for estimating how much soil you will need to haul away, or how much gravel you would need to fill it back in.
The most common error in hand calculations is multiplying feet by inches directly, which gives a number that is meaningless. The calculator converts everything into feet before multiplying, so you can safely mix units. If you do the math yourself, convert all three values to the same unit first. For a quick check, one cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, and one cubic foot is 1,728 cubic inches.
The calculator gives the geometric volume, which is the space itself. Soil dug out of the ground takes up more space than it did in place, because digging loosens it. Soil placed as fill and compacted takes up less space than loose soil. So the amount to haul away from a hole is usually larger than the hole volume, and the amount of loose fill needed can be larger than the space being filled. For fill, use the Fill Dirt Calculator, and for other materials use the specific tools, which include density and coverage factors.
Cubic yards show up in freight, dumpster sizing, and bulk landscaping. Dumpsters are often described by capacity in cubic yards, so you can compare your calculated debris volume with a container size. Remember debris is bulky, with gaps between items, so the space it fills can be greater than the solid volume of the material.
27 -- a cubic yard is 3ft x 3ft x 3ft, and 3 x 3 x 3 = 27.
Yes -- each dimension (length, width, height) has its own unit selector, so you can enter a footprint in feet and a depth in inches in the same calculation without converting by hand first.
No -- this is pure volume only. For a material-specific weight estimate, use the relevant calculator (Gravel, Sand, Topsoil) instead.
Multiply by 27. For example, 2 cubic yards is 54 cubic feet.
You can estimate the volume of debris in a pile or box, but debris does not pack perfectly, so allow extra and check the dumpster provider capacity limits.
Divide it into rectangular sections, calculate each one, and add the results, or use an average depth for a gently sloped bottom.
If you are ordering by the yard, yes. Suppliers often sell in whole or half yards and a small shortage is harder to fix than a small surplus.