Litres to US quarts:
multiply by 1.0567

How many quarts are in a litre?

One litre is 1.056688209 US liquid quarts. That means a litre bottle holds a little more than a quart, by about 6 percent. If you only need a rough figure, "slightly over a quart" is a fair answer.

The number comes from the US quart itself, which is exactly 0.946352946 litres because the US gallon is defined as 3.785411784 litres and a quart is a quarter of a gallon. Since litres are the larger unit here, you get a bigger number of quarts than litres.

The litres to quarts formula

A second example runs the other way. A recipe calling for 6 quarts of stock is 6 × 0.946352946 = 5.678118 litres, so a 5 litre pot will not be big enough and you need roughly 5.7 litres of capacity.

1. 1Write the volume in litres.
2. 2Multiply by 1.056688209.
3. 3Round to two decimals for cooking or three for lab work.
4. 4Check that the quart answer is a little larger than the litre figure.

Chart: litres to US quarts

This table uses the exact factor, so you can read off common sizes without a calculator.

For sizes in between, add two rows together. A 12 litre volume is 10 L plus 2 L, which is 10.56688209 + 2.113376419 = 12.68025851 quarts.

Where litres to quarts comes up

• Engine oil: American car manuals list oil capacity in quarts, while oil sold in Europe and India is in litres. A 4.5 litre sump needs about 4.75 quarts.
• Coolant and washer fluid: bottles are often sold as 1 litre or 1 gallon, and the manual gives quarts.
• Milk and juice: US cartons are sold by the quart, half gallon and gallon, while the rest of the world uses litres.
• Recipes: American soup and stock recipes use quarts, and so does most US cookware labelling.

Quick ways to estimate litres in quarts

You do not always have a calculator at the shop or in the garage. Two shortcuts give a result that is close enough for most jobs.

• Add 6 percent: for 10 litres, 10 plus 0.6 is 10.6 quarts, against an exact answer of 10.567.
• Add one twentieth plus a little: 20 litres gives 20 plus 1 is 21 quarts, against the exact 21.13.
• Go the other way by subtracting about 5 percent: 8 quarts is about 7.6 litres, and the exact figure is 7.571 litres.

Because a US gallon is four quarts and 3.785 litres, you can also think in gallons first. A 19 litre water cooler bottle is about 5 gallons, which is about 20 quarts. The exact figure is 20.08 quarts, so the shortcut lands close.

Common mistakes when converting litres to quarts

• Using the UK quart. An imperial quart is about 1.137 litres, which would give the opposite direction of error.
• Treating a quart and a litre as equal. On 20 litres that mistake hides more than a litre of liquid.
• Mixing up dry and liquid quarts. This converter is for liquids only, and a dry quart is a different size.
• Multiplying when you should divide. Dividing litres by 0.9464 and multiplying by 1.0567 both work, but multiplying by 0.9464 gives the wrong answer.