Metres to yards:
multiply by 1.0936

How many yards are in a metre?

One metre is 1.093613298 yards, or about 1.09 yards. Put the other way, one yard is exactly 0.9144 metres, a value fixed by the international yard and pound agreement of 1959, so the conversion is precise.

A metre is therefore a little longer than a yard: about 3.28 feet against 3 feet. Every 100 metres adds roughly 9.4 yards.

The metre and the yard come from different traditions. The metre was defined in France as part of the metric system, while the yard grew out of English measures and was later fixed by treaty at 0.9144 m. Today both are tied to the same standard, which is why the conversion never changes. In practice you meet it whenever a metric country and a yard-using country share a sport or a market, from football pitch markings to rolls of fabric on sale online.

Metres to yards formula and example

For a quick estimate, add a tenth: 100 m plus 10 gives 110 yd, near the exact 109.36.

1. 1Write the length in metres.
2. 2Multiply by 1.093613298, or divide by 0.9144.
3. 3Round to two decimals, or to the nearest yard for coarse work.
4. 4Sanity check: the yard number should be about 10 percent bigger.

Chart: metres to yards

Where metres to yards comes up

• Sport: a 100 m sprint is 109.36 yd, and a 100 yard American football field is 91.44 m long between the goal lines.
• Pools: a 25 m swimming pool is 27.34 yd long, which is why US yard pools and metric pools are not directly comparable for times.
• Fabric and carpet: some suppliers quote metres and others yards, so a 5 m roll is 5.47 yd.
• Golf: course yardages are printed in yards, while rangefinders may show metres.

A second example: a golfer who sees 150 m to the flag on a metric rangefinder has 150 × 1.093613298 = 164.04 yd to play.

Quick sanity checks for metres to yards

A metre is 39.37 inches and a yard is 36 inches, so a metre is 3.37 inches longer. Divide that gap by 36 and you get the 9.4 percent difference built into the factor.

Athletics gives a nice check. A 400 m lap is 437.45 yd, which is about 2.5 yd shorter than the old quarter-mile track of 440 yd.

When you are given yards and want metres, take away roughly 9 percent: 110 yd is about 100 m.

Common mistakes when converting metres to yards

• Treating a yard and a metre as equal. The difference is 9 percent, or about 9 cm in every metre.
• Dividing by 1.0936 when going from yards to metres. That is the wrong direction, so multiply yards by 0.9144 instead.
• Using 0.9144 in the wrong direction. That factor turns yards into metres, so applying it to metres gives a number that is too small.
• Comparing times from a yard pool with a metre pool without adjusting. The pools differ in length by more than 2 metres at the 25 mark.