Velocity / Speed Converter

Convert between kilometers per hour, miles per hour, meters per second, knots, feet per second, Mach and every other unit of speed, including wind scales like Beaufort.

1 meter per second = 2.236936292 miles per hour

Most used speed units

Popular speed conversions

What is speed?

Speed is how fast something moves: distance divided by time. Velocity is speed in a particular direction, but both are measured with the same units. The SI unit is the meter per second, while everyday speeds are given in kilometers per hour in most of the world and in miles per hour in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Ships and aircraft use knots, one nautical mile per hour, because nautical miles tie in with latitude on navigation charts. Aircraft near the speed of sound use the Mach number, and physicists compare the fastest speeds with the speed of light.

Speed units convert by simple multiplication: 1 mph is exactly 1.609344 km/h, and 1 m/s is exactly 3.6 km/h.

Common speed equivalents

  • 1 m/s = 3.6 km/h ≈ 2.23694 mph ≈ 1.94384 knots
  • 1 km/h ≈ 0.621371 mph ≈ 0.277778 m/s
  • 1 mph = 1.609344 km/h ≈ 0.44704 m/s
  • 1 knot = 1.852 km/h ≈ 1.15078 mph
  • Mach 1 ≈ 1,225 km/h ≈ 761 mph at sea level (varies with temperature)

Quick mental conversion: km/h × 0.6 ≈ mph, and mph × 1.6 ≈ km/h.

Speed units from smallest to largest

Every proportional speed unit on the site, ordered by size and expressed in meters per second.

  1. Millimeter per hour 2.777778 × 10-7 m/s
  2. Inch per day 2.939815 × 10-7 m/s
  3. Micrometer per second 0.000001 m/s
  4. Foot per day 0.00000352778 m/s
  5. Inch per hour 0.00000705556 m/s
  6. Foot per hour 0.0000846667 m/s
  7. Furlong per fortnight 0.00016631 m/s
  8. Yard per hour 0.000254 m/s
  9. Meter per hour 0.000277778 m/s
  10. Inch per minute 0.000423333 m/s
  11. Millimeter per second 0.001 m/s
  12. Foot per minute 0.00508 m/s
  13. Centimeter per second 0.01 m/s
  14. Snail pace 0.013 m/s
  15. Yard per minute 0.01524 m/s
  16. Meter per minute 0.0166667 m/s
  17. Inch per second 0.0254 m/s
  18. Fathom per minute 0.03048 m/s
  19. Kilometer per hour 0.277778 m/s
  20. Foot per second 0.3048 m/s
  21. Mile per hour 0.44704 m/s
  22. Knot 0.514444 m/s
  23. Admiralty knot 0.514773 m/s
  24. Yard per second 0.9144 m/s
  25. Meter per second 1 m/s
  26. Walking pace 1.4 m/s
  27. Usain Bolt top speed 12.42 m/s
  28. Kilometer per minute 16.6667 m/s
  29. Mile per minute 26.8224 m/s
  30. Cheetah speed 29 m/s
  31. Mach (sea level) 340.29 m/s
  32. Concorde cruise speed 605.6 m/s
  33. Parsec per million years 977.792 m/s
  34. Kilometer per second 1,000 m/s
  35. Mile per second 1,609.34 m/s
  36. ISS orbital speed 7,660 m/s
  37. Escape velocity (Earth) 11,186 m/s
  38. Earth orbital speed 29,780 m/s
  39. Astronomical unit per day 1,731,460 m/s
  40. Atomic unit of velocity 2,187,690 m/s
  41. Speed of light 299,792,000 m/s

All 44 speed units

Common

Metric

US & imperial

Physics & astronomy

Wind scales

Everyday comparisons

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert km/h to mph?

Multiply by 0.621371, or divide by 1.609344. 100 km/h is about 62.14 mph.

How do I convert mph to km/h?

Multiply by 1.609344. 60 mph is about 96.56 km/h.

What is a knot?

One nautical mile per hour, exactly 1.852 km/h or about 1.15 mph, used at sea and in aviation.

How fast is Mach 1?

The speed of sound: about 1,225 km/h (761 mph) at sea level at 15 °C, and about 1,062 km/h at cruising altitude, where the air is colder.

Related categories