Kilograms to Tons Converter

Which ton?

Three units share the name, and they are not close enough to treat as the same.

• Metric tonne — exactly 1,000 kg
• US short ton — 2,000 lb, or 907.18 kg
• UK long ton — 2,240 lb, or 1,016.05 kg

1 tonne = 1,000 kg    1 short ton = 907.18 kg

The spread between the smallest and the largest is over 12 %. On a freight invoice, a materials order or an emissions figure, that is not a rounding difference.

The spelling helps but is not reliable: "tonne" always means metric, but "ton" could be any of the three depending on who wrote it.

The kilogram

The SI base unit of mass. For 130 years it was defined by a platinum-iridium cylinder kept near Paris, which was a problem: the artefact was drifting relative to its own copies by tens of micrograms.

Since 2019 it has been defined by fixing the Planck constant, so the kilogram no longer depends on any physical object and can be realised in any properly equipped laboratory.

The ton, and which one

Three different units share the name, and they differ by up to 12 %:

• Metric tonne — 1,000 kg, or 2,204.6 lb. Spelled "tonne" to distinguish it.
• US short ton — 2,000 lb, which is 907.18 kg. What "ton" means in America.
• UK long ton — 2,240 lb, or 1,016.05 kg. The traditional British ton, still used in shipping.

On a freight invoice or a materials order, the difference between a short ton and a tonne is over ten per cent of the bill.

The working, step by step

Every line updates with whatever you type above. The point is the method, which is the same for any pair of units in this family.

Copy the working

The same quantity, two different numbers

One physical amount, read off two scales. The tick marks do not line up, and the gap between them is the conversion factor made visible.

How much is that?

A number is easier to judge next to something familiar.

Your turn

Reading a method and being able to use it are different things. Answer within half a per cent and it counts as correct.

How to use this converter

1. Type into either box. The other side updates as you go; there is no button to press.
2. Swap the direction with the button between the boxes, carrying your value across.
3. Set the decimals if the default is more or less precision than you need.
4. Copy the answer with its unit, ready to paste.
5. Use the shortcut buttons for the values that come up most often.
6. Share the result. The address bar tracks what you type, so the link you copy opens on the same number.

Common uses and tips

Where mass conversions come up

• Cooking, where recipes give grams in most of the world and ounces in the United States.
• Body weight, in kilograms nearly everywhere, pounds in America, and stones and pounds in Britain and Ireland.
• Shipping and postage, priced by weight bands that differ between carriers and countries.
• Medicine, where doses are in milligrams or micrograms and often scaled by body weight in kilograms.
• Precious metals, which use the troy ounce rather than the ordinary one.

The trap: which ounce, and which ton

Two units on this page have more than one meaning.

Ounces. The everyday avoirdupois ounce is 28.3495 grams. The troy ounce, used for gold, silver and platinum, is 31.1035 grams — about 10 % heavier. A gold price quoted per ounce always means troy. Using the wrong one on a bullion calculation is a ten per cent error.

Tons. A metric tonne is 1,000 kg. A US short ton is 2,000 lb, or 907 kg. A UK long ton is 2,240 lb, or 1,016 kg. The spread between the smallest and largest is over 12 %, which on a freight invoice is real money.

Mass is not weight

Strictly, everything on this page measures mass — how much matter there is. Weight is the force gravity exerts on that mass, and is properly measured in newtons.

Your mass is the same on the Moon; your weight is about a sixth. In everyday use nobody makes the distinction, and bathroom scales, baggage counters and recipes all use the two words interchangeably. It only matters in physics.

Numbers worth carrying

• 1 kg = 2.20462 lb, and 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg exactly.
• 1 oz = 28.3495 g. For cooking, 28 is close enough.
• 16 ounces to the pound, 14 pounds to the stone.
• Weigh, do not measure, for baking. A cup of flour varies by up to 20 % depending how it was packed; 120 g is 120 g.

Values people look up most

Each one opens the converter with the number already in it.

• 100 kg to t
• 500 kg to t
• 907 kg to t
• 1,000 kg to t
• 1,500 kg to t
• 2,000 kg to t
• 2,500 kg to t
• 5,000 kg to t
• 10,000 kg to t
• 50,000 kg to t

Quick reference

Using metric tonnes of 1,000 kg.

Kilograms	Tonnes
500 kg	0.5 t
1,000 kg	1 t
2,000 kg	2 t
5,000 kg	5 t
10,000 kg	10 t
50,000 kg	50 t

Questions people ask

How many kg in a ton?

1,000 for a metric tonne, 907.18 for a US short ton, 1,016.05 for a UK long ton.

What is the difference between ton and tonne?

‘Tonne’ always means the metric 1,000 kg. ‘Ton’ means the short ton in America and the long ton in Britain.

Which one is used for shipping?

Metric tonnes in most international trade, though long tons persist in some British shipping contexts.