Decimal to Feet and Inches Converter

This calculator takes one decimal number in inches and splits it into whole feet plus leftover inches. The whole-feet count is the decimal value divided by 12 and rounded down, so whole feet = floor(decimal ÷ 12). The leftover is whatever remains once those whole feet are subtracted back out in inches: remainder = decimal − (whole feet × 12). When that remainder isn't already a clean whole number, the calculator rounds it to the fraction precision you choose, from 1/8 inch up to 1/64 inch, using the same greatest common divisor simplification used across the rest of this site.

69.5 inches: floor(69.5 ÷ 12) = 5 whole feet (60 inches), leaving 9.5 inches. At 1/16 inch precision, 9.5 × 16 = 152, which simplifies to 9 8/16 = 9 1/2, so 69.5 in = 5 ft 9 1/2 in. 75 inches: floor(75 ÷ 12) = 6 whole feet (72 inches), leaving exactly 3 inches, so 75 in = 6 ft 3 in with no fraction needed. 100 inches: floor(100 ÷ 12) = 8 whole feet (96 inches), leaving 4 inches, so 100 in = 8 ft 4 in. 148.5 inches: floor(148.5 ÷ 12) = 12 whole feet (144 inches), leaving 4.5 inches, which rounds to 4 1/2 at 1/16 inch precision, so 148.5 in = 12 ft 4 1/2 in. That matches the result you'd get starting from 12.375 decimal feet on the decimal feet to inches calculator, since 12.375 × 12 = 148.5.

Some inch totals split into round numbers of feet with no fraction at all. Here are a few worth memorizing:

1/8 inch precision is coarse enough for rough framing and general layout work. 1/16 inch is the default here because it matches the smallest marks on most tape measures and is the standard resolution for construction and DIY projects. 1/32 inch fits fine woodworking joinery where a tighter fit matters, and 1/64 inch matches machinist and metalworking tolerances. Picking a finer precision than the job needs doesn't add real accuracy, it just displays a smaller fraction that gets rounded off in practice anyway.

This page expects the number you type to already be in decimal inches, such as a board length pulled from a cut list or a dimension a CAD program reported in inches. If your starting number is in decimal feet instead, for example a survey distance of 12.375 ft, multiply by 12 first or use the decimal feet to inches calculator, which performs that multiplication automatically before running the same feet-and-inches split. Need to go the other direction, from feet and inches back into a single decimal number? Use the feet and inches to decimal calculator for a decimal-feet result, or the inches to decimal feet converter if the source value is already in inches.

Cabinet and cut-list software often exports a shelf or panel length as a single decimal, such as 46.75 inches, but a shop tape measure can't be set to a decimal, so the number has to become 3 ft 10 3/4 in before it means anything on the material. Real estate listings and floor plans sometimes report room dimensions in decimal feet or decimal inches pulled from a laser measure, and buyers usually expect the familiar feet-and-inches format instead. Engineering drawings that store a dimension as one decimal number for easy math still need the feet-and-inches equivalent printed on the sheet for the person doing the actual cutting or installing.

The most common mistake is feeding in a number that's actually in decimal feet, which produces an absurdly large feet-and-inches result since the tool assumes inches. Another mistake is rounding the remainder to a coarse fraction like 1/8 inch and then trying to get more precision out of it later, when the original decimal value should be re-entered at 1/32 or 1/64 inch instead. A third is forgetting that an exact remainder still needs to be written out, since 72 inches converts to exactly 6 ft 0 in, not just "6 ft" with the inches left blank.

When the leftover inches rounds up to the full value of the chosen precision, the fraction step rolls it over to the full inch count rather than carrying an extra whole foot. For example, 71.97 inches splits into 5 whole feet with a remainder of 11.97, and at 1/16 inch precision that remainder rounds to 12/16, which the tool displays as a 12-inch leftover rather than bumping the whole-feet count to 6. If a result ever shows a leftover of exactly 12 inches, read it as equivalent to one additional whole foot with 0 inches left over. The measured length is identical either way, it's only the way it gets written down that changes.