Unit converter

Kilograms to pounds.

Convert kg to lbs and lbs to kg. Type in either box and the other follows. The pound is defined as exactly 0.453 592 37 kilograms, so this conversion is exact — the only rounding is the one you choose for the display.

kg → lbExact definition
Kilograms to pounds — common values, to 6 significant figures.
kglb
1 kg2.20462 lb
2 kg4.40925 lb
3 kg6.61387 lb
4 kg8.81849 lb
5 kg11.0231 lb
10 kg22.0462 lb
15 kg33.0693 lb
20 kg44.0925 lb
25 kg55.1156 lb
50 kg110.231 lb
75 kg165.347 lb
100 kg220.462 lb
250 kg551.156 lb
500 kg1102.31 lb
1000 kg2204.62 lb
mlb=mkg0.45359237 mkg=mlb×0.45359237

Definitions

  • The pound here is the international avoirdupois pound, defined in 1959 as exactly 0.453 592 37 kg. That definition makes kg ↔ lb an exact conversion, not an approximation.
  • These are units of mass, not force. A 70 kg person has the same mass on the Moon; their weight does not. Pound-force (lbf) is a different unit and lives on the force converter.
  • The troy ounce used for precious metals (31.103 g) is not the ounce used for groceries (28.350 g). Both are in the unit menu, named.
  • UK body weight is usually quoted in stone and pounds: 1 stone = 14 lb = 6.350 293 18 kg exactly.
  • A "ton" is ambiguous: the long (UK) ton is 1016.05 kg, the short (US) ton is 907.185 kg, and the metric tonne is exactly 1000 kg. All three appear separately in the menu.

How it works

To convert kilograms to pounds, divide by 0.453 592 37 — or, near enough for a supermarket, multiply by 2.2. To convert pounds to kilograms, multiply by 0.453 592 37, which is close to dividing by 2.2. The converter above does it exactly and in both directions, so you can also work backwards from a target weight in pounds.

Everything is converted through the SI base unit, the kilogram. That means kg to lbs, kg to stone, grams to ounces and pounds to grams are all the same single calculation with different units at the ends, and none of them accumulates rounding on the way through.

The display precision menu sets a maximum number of significant figures, not a claim about how accurately anything was weighed. Trailing zeroes are trimmed, so 100 kg reads as 220.462 lb rather than 220.462000 lb. Internally the arithmetic runs at full double precision and only the displayed value is rounded.

Common questions this answers: how many pounds in a kilo (2.204 62), how many kg in a pound (0.453 592), what 70 kg is in stone (11 st 0.3 lb), and what a bag limit of 23 kg is in pounds (50.7 lb).