Convert litres to centilitres and back for bottle labels, bar measures and European cocktail recipes. Add the ABV to see how much pure alcohol is in the bottle.
1 L = 100 cL · 1 cL = 10 mL
Most of the time you meet centilitres on a drinks label. These are the sizes you'll see most, with the same amount in litres, millilitres and US fluid ounces.
| Container | cL | L | mL | US fl oz |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piccolo (quarter bottle) of sparkling wine | 18.75 | 0.1875 | 187.5 | 6.3 |
| Mini wine bottle; French demi of beer | 25 | 0.25 | 250 | 8.5 |
| European beer bottle or can | 33 | 0.33 | 330 | 11.2 |
| Half bottle of wine | 37.5 | 0.375 | 375 | 12.7 |
| UK tall beer can (440 mL) | 44 | 0.44 | 440 | 14.9 |
| Large beer can; half-litre bottle | 50 | 0.5 | 500 | 16.9 |
| Spirits bottle in the EU and UK | 70 | 0.7 | 700 | 23.7 |
| Standard wine bottle; US spirits fifth | 75 | 0.75 | 750 | 25.4 |
| Magnum | 150 | 1.5 | 1,500 | 50.7 |
| US spirits “handle” (1.75 L) | 175 | 1.75 | 1,750 | 59.2 |
"75 cl", "750 ml" and "0.75 L" are the same bottle; producers pick whichever reads best. French and Italian wine labels lean towards cl, while German and American labels usually print mL. Both cl and cL are correct, since the SI accepts lower-case l and capital L as symbols for the litre.
The small ℮ next to the volume is the EU's "estimated" sign. It means the packer fills to an average of the stated quantity, checked statistically, with only a small tolerance for underfilled bottles. It doesn't mean the volume is approximate.
EU law fixes the sizes wine and spirits may be sold in, which is why spirits come in 70 cL in Europe and wine in 75 cL. The US settled on 750 mL for spirits, and only added 700 mL as an allowed spirits size in 2020. That's why a European bottle of the same whisky can look slightly smaller on a US shelf.
A bar card from Paris lists a daiquiri as 6 cl white rum, 2.5 cl lime juice and 1.5 cl sugar syrup. Your jigger is marked in ounces.
Step 1: Centilitres to millilitres (× 10)
Step 2: Millilitres to US fl oz (÷ 29.57)
Step 3: Round to jigger marks
The bar shortcut 3 cl ≈ 1 oz is only 1.4% off, close enough for drinks. The total is 10 cL before shaking; ice adds roughly another quarter, so it fits a 15 cL coupe with room to spare.
A "shot" isn't one size. Converting everything to centilitres makes the differences easy to see.
| Where | cL | Note |
|---|---|---|
| UK pub, spirits | 2.5 or 3.5 | Each pub picks one; sold in that measure or multiples |
| Ireland, spirits | 3.55 | The Irish standard measure of 35.5 mL |
| Germany and Austria, schnapps | 2 or 4 | Glasses marked “2cl / 4cl” |
| US, standard spirit pour | 4.4 | 1.5 US fl oz |
| UK, wine by the glass | 12.5 / 17.5 / 25 | Standard glass sizes |
| UK pint of beer | 56.8 | Imperial pint |
| German Maß of beer | 100 | Oktoberfest one-litre stein |
ABV is a percentage of the volume, so centilitres give pure alcohol directly: a 70 cL bottle at 40% holds 70 × 0.40 = 28 cL of ethanol. The two common ways of counting drinks then follow:
| Drink | Pure alcohol | UK units | US drinks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 33 cL beer at 5% | 1.65 cL | 1.6 | 0.9 |
| 17.5 cL glass of wine at 12% | 2.1 cL | 2.1 | 1.2 |
| 75 cL wine at 13.5% | 10.13 cL | 10.1 | 5.7 |
| 2.5 cL spirit at 40% | 1 cL | 1 | 0.6 |
| 70 cL spirit at 40% | 28 cL | 28 | 15.8 |
UK health guidance is no more than 14 units a week, spread over several days. A 75 cL bottle of 13.5% wine is 10.1 units on its own.
Each step down the metric ladder is a factor of ten, so moving between them only shifts the decimal point:
| Unit | Litres | Centilitres | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 litre (L) | 1 | 100 | Cartons, large bottles |
| 1 decilitre (dL) | 0.1 | 10 | Swedish, Finnish and Swiss recipes |
| 1 centilitre (cL) | 0.01 | 1 | Drinks labels and bar specs |
| 1 millilitre (mL, cc) | 0.001 | 0.1 | Medicine, syringes, US labels |
Watch out for cc: one cubic centimetre is one millilitre, not one centilitre, so 1 cL = 10 cc. For cups and other kitchen units, use the volume converter.
Yes. 1 cl is 10 ml, so 75 cl = 750 ml = 0.75 L, the standard wine bottle.
A UK pint is 56.8 cL and a US pint is 47.3 cL. A German or Czech half-litre is 50 cL, in between the two.
It depends on the country: 2.5 or 3.5 cL in the UK, 3.55 cL in Ireland, 2 or 4 cL in Germany and about 4.4 cL (1.5 fl oz) in the US.
Multiply by 10 and use millilitre markings: 4 cL is 40 mL. A standard 15 mL tablespoon holds 1.5 cL.
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