How to find the volume of a box
The volume of a rectangular box (a cuboid) is length × width × height. A box 2 by 3 by 4 has a volume of 2 × 3 × 4 = 24 cubic units. All three measurements must be in the same unit, and the answer comes out in that unit cubed.
The formula is really the base area multiplied by the depth: 2 × 3 gives a base of 6 square units, and stacking that base 4 units high gives 24. Multiplication is commutative, so the order of the three measurements makes no difference to the result. The simplest case of all, where every edge is the same length, is covered by the cube volume calculator.
How to use this calculator
Enter the length, width and height. The result is the volume in cubic units. For a cube, all three are equal, so the volume is the side length cubed.
Convert every measurement to one unit before entering it — mixing feet with inches, or metres with centimetres, is the usual cause of wrong answers. Note also that volume scales with the cube of size: doubling all three dimensions makes a box eight times larger, not twice.
Other shapes
This is for box shapes. For round containers use the cylinder volume calculator, and for material by area and depth in construction units, the square feet to cubic yards calculator.
For shipping and storage, measure the internal dimensions rather than the outside of the box, since the walls take up space. And remember that a container's stated volume is the space available, not the space you can actually fill — irregular items always leave gaps.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the formula for the volume of a box?
- Volume = length × width × height, with all three in the same unit.
- What is the volume of a 2×3×4 box?
- 24 cubic units (2 × 3 × 4).
- How do I find the volume of a cube?
- Cube the side length — multiply it by itself three times. A 5-unit cube is 125 cubic units.
- What units is volume in?
- Cubic units of whatever you measured in — cubic inches, cm³, m³, and so on.
- How do I convert the result to litres or gallons?
- One litre is 1,000 cubic centimetres, and one cubic metre is 1,000 litres. For US measures, one US gallon is 231 cubic inches, so divide a result in cubic inches by 231 to get gallons.