Land Area Converter – acres, hectares, bigha, and 16 units
Land area is measured in dozens of different units around the world — and the unit you encounter depends heavily on where the property is, who measured it, and for what purpose. A real estate listing in the United States might advertise a parcel in acres, the same plot described in a European survey would use hectares, while a comparable piece of agricultural land in North India would be recorded in bighas. This Land Area Converter bridges all those systems in one place, handling 16 units across metric, imperial, and South Asian regional standards.
Supported unit systems
The converter organises its 16 units into three groups:
- Metric units — square meter (m²), are (100 m²), hectare (10,000 m²), and square kilometer (1,000,000 m²). These are the international standard for scientific, agricultural, and government land records in most countries.
- Imperial units — square foot, square yard, acre (43,560 ft²), and square mile. Widely used in the United States, United Kingdom, and parts of the Caribbean and Pacific.
- Regional South Asian units — bigha, katha, gunta, ropani, decimal, biswa, marla, and kanal. These units pre-date metrication and remain in daily use for property transactions across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
How the conversion works
Every unit is mapped to square meters through a fixed conversion factor. To convert from any unit A to any unit B, the tool first converts A to square meters, then divides by the factor for B:
result = value × factor(A → m²) ÷ factor(B → m²)
For example, converting 2 acres to hectares: 2 × 4046.86 ÷ 10000 = 0.8094 ha. This two-step method keeps all 16 units accurate with a single lookup table rather than maintaining 240 individual conversion ratios.
Using the Dimensions mode
If you know a plot's rectangular dimensions rather than its area, switch to the From Dimensions tab. Enter the length and width in meters and choose a target unit. The tool computes area = length × width and then converts to your chosen unit. This is useful for raw survey measurements or field estimates where you have measured boundary lengths rather than a recorded area figure.
Regional unit definitions and their variability
South Asian land units were historically defined at the village or district level, so they vary — sometimes significantly — by location:
- Bigha — ranges from about 1,337 m² (Himachal Pradesh) to 6,771 m² (Bengal). This tool uses the North Indian standard of 2,529.285 m², common in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
- Katha — used in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Bangladesh. The standard here (66.89 m²) reflects the Bihar/Bangladesh definition; West Bengal katha can differ.
- Gunta — primarily used in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh; 1 gunta = 1/40 acre ≈ 101.17 m².
- Ropani — Nepal's traditional land unit; 1 ropani = 508.72 m². Nepal also uses aana, paisa, and daam for sub-divisions.
- Marla and Kanal — standard units in Punjab (India and Pakistan). 1 kanal = 20 marla ≈ 505.857 m².
- Biswa — common in North India; 1 bigha = approximately 20 biswas, though local definitions vary.
Because these definitions are not legally standardised at the national level, results for regional units are reference approximations. For official land registration, valuation, or legal purposes, always confirm the applicable local definition with a registered surveyor or relevant government office.
Common conversion reference values
- 1 Acre = 4,046.86 m² = 0.4047 ha = 43,560 ft²
- 1 Hectare = 10,000 m² = 2.471 acres = 107,639 ft²
- 1 Bigha (North India) = 2,529.285 m² = 0.2529 ha = 0.625 acre
- 1 Kanal = 505.857 m² = 20 marla ≈ 0.125 acre
- 1 Ropani (Nepal) = 508.72 m² ≈ 0.126 acre
Who uses this tool
This converter is useful for real estate buyers and sellers comparing listings in different unit systems, farmers and agricultural consultants working across state borders, property lawyers interpreting deeds in legacy units, surveyors cross-checking field measurements, and students learning land measurement for geography or agricultural science courses. The multi-unit comparison table lets you see the same area expressed in every supported unit simultaneously, making it easy to build an intuition for relative sizes.