How do I calculate cubic yards from feet?

Multiply length × width × depth, all in feet, then divide by 27. A 9 × 9 ft bed at 1 ft deep is 81 cu ft = 3 cu yd. If the depth is in inches, divide it by 12 first — or use the depth-unit selector in this calculator.

How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard?

27. A cubic yard is a 3 ft cube: 3 × 3 × 3. That single number converts any cubic-foot volume into the yards a bulk supplier will quote.

How much area does a cubic yard cover?

It depends entirely on depth: 324 sq ft at 1 in, 108 sq ft at 3 in, 81 sq ft at 4 in, 54 sq ft at 6 in, and 27 sq ft at a full 12 in. Depth is the most common reason bulk orders come up short.

What does a cubic yard look like in real terms?

A cube 3 ft on each side — about a full-size pickup bed filled level with the rails, or roughly 14 wheelbarrow loads (at 2 cu ft each, heaped). Most single-axle dump deliveries carry 5–10 cu yd.

Should I add extra for settling or compaction?

For the raw volume, no — this calculator gives the geometric truth. Then apply the material's behaviour: add about 20% for topsoil, 5–10% for gravel, 10% overage for concrete. The mulch, topsoil, gravel and concrete calculators on this site build those factors in.

Cubic Yard Calculator — Free, With Formula & Worked Example

About this calculator

Bulk materials are ordered in cubic yards but measured on site in feet and inches. This general converter turns any rectangular volume into cubic yards, cubic feet and cubic metres, so a delivery order matches the hole you actually dug.

What this number means

The cubic yard is the unit bulk yards think in and homeowners do not — which is exactly why loads arrive wrong. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet: a cube 3 ft on each side, roughly the load in a full-size pickup bed filled level. Every bulk order — mulch, gravel, topsoil, concrete — is this conversion wearing a different material's clothes.

This general calculator exists for the jobs the material-specific tools do not cover: raised-bed fill, French-drain trenches, sandbox sand, excavation spoil. It reports cubic feet and cubic metres alongside yards, because bag counts work in cubic feet and metric suppliers work in cubic metres.

The formula

Volume (cu ft) = Length (ft) × Width (ft) × Depth (ft), × quantity
Cubic yards = Cubic feet ÷ 27
Cubic metres = Cubic feet × 0.0283168 (1 cu yd = 0.765 cu m)
Unit conversions into feet: inches ÷ 12 · metres × 3.28084 · centimetres ÷ 30.48

Handy check: at 12 in deep, cubic yards = square feet ÷ 27. At 4 in deep, cubic yards = square feet ÷ 81.

Worked example

A 9 × 9 ft garden bed filled 12 in deep.

Volume = 9 × 9 × 1 ft = 81 cu ft
Cubic yards = 81 ÷ 27 = exactly 3 cu yd
Cubic metres = 81 × 0.0283168 = 2.29 cu m

This is the reference check for every material calculator on the site — mulch, gravel and topsoil all start from this volume and then apply their own density or settling rules.

Assumptions and limitations

Rectangular volumes with vertical sides and a flat bottom. Sloped trench walls and dished excavations hold less than the box that bounds them — measure depth at several points and use the average.
The result is the geometric volume only. Materials then behave differently: concrete keeps it, topsoil settles about 20%, loose gravel compacts 5–10%. The material-specific calculators on this site apply those adjustments — prefer them when one matches your job.
Spoil (dug soil) bulks up by roughly 25% once excavated, so the haul-away pile is bigger than the hole. Add that factor yourself if you are sizing a skip or trailer for spoil.