Square Feet to Square Meters, Acres, Hectares and Marla: A Simple Area Guide

Published 1 November 2026 · By Sardar Zain, Founder of Orixiva · 12-minute read

A flat is advertised at 1,200 sq ft, the flooring shop sells by the square metre, a farm is listed in acres and a plot in Lahore is sold in marla. Converting square feet to square meters and between land units is simple once you know one key idea: area factors are squared, so they are not the same as length factors.

This guide explains that idea, then walks through homes, rooms, farmland and South Asian land units with clear, worked examples. You can check each answer in the free Orixiva area converter, which lists your area in all 12 units at once.

Why area conversion factors are squared

A square that is 1 m on each side has an area of 1 m². In feet, each side is 3.2808 ft, so its area is 3.2808 × 3.2808 = 10.764 sq ft, not 3.28. Because area has two dimensions, you square the length factor.

The same logic gives every area factor below. 1 ft = 0.3048 m, so 1 sq ft = 0.3048² = 0.09290304 m². 1 yd = 0.9144 m, so 1 sq yd = 0.83612736 m². This is the most common reason for wrong area answers, so it is worth remembering.

The exact numbers behind every area conversion

These follow from the 1959 definitions of the foot and yard. NIST lists the same values in the general tables of units in NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C.

How to convert square feet to square meters

1. Write down the area in square feet, for example a 1,200 sq ft flat.
2. Multiply by 0.0929: 1,200 × 0.09290304 = 111.48.
3. Result: about 111.5 m².

More square feet to square meters examples

• 100 sq ft (small bedroom): 9.29 m².
• 500 sq ft (studio): 46.45 m².
• 1,000 sq ft (apartment): 92.90 m².
• 2,000 sq ft (house): 185.81 m².

How to convert square meters to square feet

• 20 m² room: 20 × 10.7639 = 215.28 sq ft.
• 50 m² flat: 538.20 sq ft.
• 100 m² home: 1,076.39 sq ft.
• 120 m² office: 1,291.67 sq ft.

Comparing property listings across countries is a common reason to convert. A “100 m² apartment” in Europe is roughly a “1,076 sq ft apartment” in the US.

How to measure the area of a room (and convert it)

You can only convert an area once you have it. For most rooms that takes a tape measure and a minute.

1. Measure length and width in one unit, wall to wall. For example 12 ft × 12 ft.
2. Multiply them: 12 × 12 = 144 sq ft.
3. Convert: 144 × 0.0929 = 13.38 m².

L-shaped and irregular rooms

Split the room into rectangles, find each area, then add them. An L-shaped room of 4 × 3 m plus 2 × 1.5 m is 12 + 3 = 15 m², or 161.46 sq ft. For slopes and angled walls, the angle converter guide helps with the angles.

For paint, tiles and concrete, the area is only the first step. The paint, tiles and concrete guide and the construction calculators take you from area to quantities and cost.

How to find the area of circles, triangles and other shapes

Not every space is a rectangle. Work out the area with the right formula, keep everything in one unit, then convert:

The value box accepts sums and products, so you can type 0.5*6*4 or 3.1416*2*2 and convert straight away.

Square yards and square inches

Square yards are used for carpets, fabric and, in India and Pakistan, for house plots. 1 sq yd = 9 sq ft = 0.836 m². A 200 sq yd plot is 1,800 sq ft or 167.23 m². Square inches suit small items: an A4 sheet (21 × 29.7 cm = 623.7 cm²) is about 96.7 sq in.

Acres, hectares and square miles for land

Farms, parks and large plots are measured in acres (US, UK, South Asia) or hectares (most other countries).

• Acre to hectare: multiply by 0.4047. A 10-acre farm is 4.05 ha.
• Hectare to acre: multiply by 2.471. A 50-hectare estate is 123.55 acres.
• Acre to square feet: 1 acre = 43,560 sq ft, roughly a square 208.7 ft on each side.
• Square mile to acres: 1 mi² = 640 acres = 258.999 ha.
• Square kilometre to hectares: 1 km² = 100 ha.

In the United States you may also meet the US survey acre, based on the older survey foot. It is only about 4 parts per million larger (about 0.016 m² per acre), so for everyday use the two are the same. The converter uses the international acre of 4,046.8564224 m².

Price per square foot vs price per square metre

Prices convert the other way round from areas. Because one square metre is 10.764 square feet, a price per square metre is 10.764 times a price per square foot:

• Rent at $2 per sq ft per month is $21.53 per m² per month.
• Flooring at €40 per m² is €3.72 per sq ft.
• A home priced at $250 per sq ft is $2,691 per m².

When comparing listings from different countries, convert both the area and the price per unit before deciding which is better value.

Marla and kanal: land units in Pakistan and North India

Plots in Pakistan and Indian Punjab are sold in marla and kanal. The Orixiva converter uses the standard values, which the system of land measurement in Punjab ties to the acre:

The 225 sq ft marla

Not every area uses 272.25 sq ft. In parts of Lahore and in many housing societies, a marla is 225 sq ft, so a 5-marla plot is 1,125 sq ft and a kanal is 4,500 sq ft. The converter uses the 272.25 sq ft standard. If your plot uses 225 sq ft, multiply the marla by 225 to get square feet, then convert the square feet to square meters or acres.

Square feet to square meters chart

Rounded to two decimal places. The converter gives up to 15 significant figures.

Area units for homes and land by country

• United States and Canada: homes in square feet, land in acres.
• United Kingdom: homes often in both square feet and square metres, land in acres or hectares.
• Europe, Australia and most of Asia, Africa and Latin America: homes in square metres, land in hectares.
• India: homes in square feet, plots in square yards or square feet, farmland in acres, plus local units in some states.
• Pakistan: plots in marla and kanal, homes in square feet, farmland in acres or kanal.

How to convert area in Excel or Google Sheets

The CONVERT function in Excel and Google Sheets supports area units. In Microsoft’s CONVERT reference, the international acre is “uk_acre” and the US survey acre is “us_acre”. Google Sheets accepts most of the same unit codes.

Marla and kanal are not built into spreadsheets, so multiply by 272.25 (or 225, if your area uses it) to get square feet.

How to use the free area converter (step by step)

1. Open the area converter. Go to the Orixiva area converter, one of 14 converters in the unit converter.
2. Type your area. You can enter a calculation directly: 12*12 for a 12 × 12 ft room, or 4*3+2*1.5 for an L-shaped one. Fractions and scientific notation work too.
3. Choose From and To units. Square millimetre, square centimetre, square metre, hectare, square kilometre, square inch, square foot, square yard, acre, square mile, marla and kanal.
4. Read the result. It updates as you type, with both rates (1 ft² = 0.0929 m² and 1 m² = 10.764 ft²), the scientific form and the full-precision value.
5. Check the working. “How it was calculated” shows your value turned into square metres, then into the target unit.
6. Compare all 12 units. The table shows the same area in every unit, so one entry gives you sq ft, m², acres and marla together.
7. Adjust, save and share. Choose significant figures or decimal places and notation in Display options. Swap, copy, download as TXT or print, and export Recent conversions as a CSV file.

It runs in your browser, with no sign-up and nothing uploaded.

Mistakes to avoid when converting area

Using the length factor

Multiplying square metres by 3.28 instead of 10.764 makes a 100 m² flat look like 328 sq ft instead of 1,076 sq ft.

Mixing units before multiplying

A room that is 4 m by 12 ft must be in one unit first: 12 ft = 3.66 m, so the area is 4 × 3.66 = 14.63 m².

Rounding factors too early

Using 10 instead of 10.764 for square metres to square feet makes a 100 m² flat 1,000 sq ft instead of 1,076 sq ft, a 7% error. For a land deal or a flooring order, keep the full factor and round only the final answer.

Assuming every marla is the same

272.25 sq ft and 225 sq ft marla both exist. Always confirm which one a listing uses.

Confusing carpet area and built-up area

Property listings may quote carpet area (usable floor), built-up area (including walls) or super built-up area (including shared spaces). The conversion is the same, but the numbers measure different things.

Related guides: how to convert units (all 14 converters), cm to inches and feet to meters, kg to lbs and Celsius to Fahrenheit.