Cubic Yards Calculator
Calculate a Rectangle Area

Calculator Use
Calculate cubic yards volume for landscape material, mulch, land fill, gravel, cement or containers. Enter dimensions in US units (inches or feet) or metric units (centimeters or meters) to calculate the cubic yards, cubic feet and cubic meters. Also calculate the cost of materials when you enter the price per cubic foot, price per cubic yard or price per cubic meter.
Enter measurements in US units or metric units. Calculate volume from your measurements in inches (in), feet (ft), yards (yd), centimeters (cm), or meters (m). You can also enter decimal values. For example, if you have one measurement that is 7'3" you can enter that as 7.25 feet (3"/12" = 0.25 ft). If you have a measurement of 245 cm you can also enter that as 2.45 m.
How to Calculate Cubic Yards using feet and inches
Measure
- Measure your area in feet
- Determine the depth of your material, say mulch, that you will put on this area generally using depth in inches
Convert all of your measurements to feet
- If you measured in feet only skip to "Calculate"
- If you measured in feet & inches, divide inches by 12 and add that to your feet measure to get total feet
- If you measured in inches only, divide inches by 12 and that is your measurement in feet
Calculate
- Calculate your area (see below)
- Calculate your volume: Multiply area times the depth, this will be volume in cubic feet
- Calculate your cubic yards: Divide cubic feet by 27 to convert to cubic yards and this is your answer
- Where (ft2) = square foot, (ft3) = cubic foot, (yd3) = cubic yard
Cubic Yards Formulas and Images for Different Areas
Square Area

Calculate cubic yards using depth in a square area
Using measurements in feet:
Area (ft2) = 2 x Side Length
Volume (ft3) = Depth x Area
Volume in Cubic Yards (yd3) = Volume (ft3) / 27
Rectangle Area

Calculate cubic yards using depth in a rectangle area
Using measurements in feet:
Area (ft2) = Length x Width
Volume (ft3) = Depth x Area
Volume in Cubic Yards (yd3) = Volume (ft3) / 27
Rectangle Border Area

Calculate cubic yards using depth in a rectangle border area
Using measurements in feet:
Inner Area (ft2) = Length x Width
Total Area (ft2) = (Length + (2 x Border Width)) x (Width + (2 x Border Width))
Area (ft2) = Total Area - Inner Area
Volume (ft3) = Depth x Area
Volume in Cubic Yards (yd3) = Volume (ft3) / 27
Circle Area

Calculate cubic yards using depth in a circle area
Using measurements in feet:
Area (ft2) = Pi x (Diameter/2)2
Volume (ft3) = Depth x Area
Volume in Cubic Yards (yd3) = Volume (ft3) / 27
Pi = 3.14
Circle Border Area

Calculate cubic yards using depth in a circle border area
Using measurements in feet:
Outer Diameter = Inner Diameter + (2 x Border Width)
Outer Area (ft2)
= Pi x (Outer Diameter/2)2
Inner Area (ft2)
= Pi x (Inner Diameter/2)2
Area (ft2) = Outer Area - Inner Area
Volume (ft3) = Depth x Area
Volume in Cubic Yards (yd3) = Volume (ft3) / 27
Pi = 3.14
Obviously, the Circle Border and Annulus are the same, just measured differently.
Annulus Area

Calculate cubic yards using depth in an annulus area
Using measurements in feet:
Outer Area (ft2)
= Pi x (Outer Diameter/2)2
Inner Area (ft2)
= Pi x (Inner Diameter/2)2
Area (ft2) = Outer Area - Inner Area
Volume (ft3) = Depth x Area
Volume in Cubic Yards (yd3) = Volume (ft3) / 27
Pi = 3.14
Obviously, the Circle Border and Annulus are the same, just measured differently.
Triangle Area

Calculate cubic yards using depth in a triangle area
Using measurements in feet:
Area (ft2) = (1/4) x square root[ (a+b+c) x (b+c-a) x (c+a-b) x (a+b-c) ]
Volume (ft3) = Depth x Area
Volume in Cubic Yards (yd3) = Volume (ft3) / 27
Trapezoid Area

Calculate cubic yards using depth in a trapezoid area
Using measurements in feet:
Area (ft2) = ((a + b) / 2 )h
Volume (ft3) = Depth x Area
Volume in Cubic Yards (yd3) = Volume (ft3) / 27
Cite this content, page or calculator as:
Furey, Edward "Cubic Yards Calculator"; from https://www.calculatorsoup.com - Online Calculator Resource.