Cubic Yard Calculator

How to use

1. Pick the shape of the area: rectangle, circle, triangle, or Area if you already know the square footage.
2. Enter the measurements and the depth. The ft | m switch at the top turns everything into meters and centimeters.
3. Optional: pick a material to also see its weight in tons and a bag count. Leave it on None for volume only.
4. Read the answer in cubic yards and cubic meters, with an order amount rounded up to the next half yard.
5. Already have a load? Enter its cubic yards and a depth in “How far will it go?” to see the area it covers.

How it works

Cubic yards measure volume the same way regardless of what is filling that volume, which is why this tool works for gravel, mulch, soil, sand or concrete. For Rectangle, Circle or Triangle, the calculator turns your measurements into a square footage, then multiplies by the depth, converting inches to feet by dividing by 12 first, then divides the result in cubic feet by 27 to get cubic yards, since a cubic yard is a cube 3 feet on each side and 3 times 3 times 3 equals 27. For Area, it skips the shape math and multiplies the square footage you already know directly by the depth in feet, then divides by 27 the same way. The “How far will it go?” box runs that formula backward: it multiplies the cubic yards you enter by 27 to get cubic feet, then divides by the depth in feet to get the square footage that amount will cover.

The calculator shows cubic meters alongside cubic yards for anyone comparing to a metric supplier or a project spec written in metric units. If you choose a material, it multiplies the cubic yards by that material’s typical tons per cubic yard, plus a minimum and maximum, because density isn’t fixed: how wet, compacted or loosely piled a material is changes its weight noticeably. Concrete, for example, weighs far more per cubic yard than bark mulch, which is mostly air pockets between light wood pieces.

This tool assumes a flat area at one constant depth across the whole space. If your yard has a slope or a low spot, add a separate area for that section instead of averaging one depth across the whole space; the “Area” shape also works well for a section you’ve already measured by hand. It also assumes the shape you pick is a reasonable match for the real space, so long, narrow or oddly shaped areas are usually more accurate measured with a real square-footage figure than approximated as a single rectangle.

Depth guide for common projects

These typical depths come from university extension guidance and landscaping and paver installers, and apply whichever material you are converting.

If you’re not sure which depth fits your project, the gravel, rock and topsoil calculators on this site build these same depths into ready-made presets for their materials.

Worked example

1. Area: 16.5 ft × 12 ft = 198 sq ft
2. Depth: 4 in ÷ 12 = 0.333 ft
3. Volume: 198 sq ft × 0.333 ft = 66 cu ft
4. Cubic yards: 66 ÷ 27 = 2.44 cu yd (1.87 m³)
5. Order: round up to 2.5 cubic yards

Questions people ask

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