How Many mL Are in a Liter?

There are 1,000 milliliters (mL) in 1 liter (L). The prefix "milli-" means one-thousandth, so a milliliter is literally 1/1,000 of a liter.

Quick reference:

• 1 liter = 1,000 mL
• 0.5 liter = 500 mL
• 0.25 liter = 250 mL
• 2 liters = 2,000 mL

For context with other units:

• 1 liter ≈ 33.8 US fluid ounces
• 1 liter ≈ 4.2 US cups
• 1 mL of water weighs about 1 gram

Because the metric system is base-10, converting between milliliters and liters is just a matter of moving the decimal point three places.