Gallons to Quarts Converter

Need to turn gallons to quarts in a hurry? Type your amount into the calculator above and the answer appears as you type. The rule behind it is simple: every US gallon holds exactly 4 quarts, so you multiply by 4. Below you will find the formula, worked examples with decimals and fractions, a chart of common amounts, and a short guide to the gallon sizes that cause the most mix-ups.

How many quarts are in a gallon?

There are 4 quarts in a US liquid gallon. That is a definition rather than a rounded figure: the liquid gallon is 231 cubic inches, the liquid quart is 57.75 cubic inches, and 231 ÷ 57.75 = 4. Both values appear in Appendix C of the NIST Handbook 44. In short, 1 gal = 4 qt, 1 qt = 0.25 gal, and a half-gallon carton is 2 quarts.

Gallons to quarts formula and worked examples

Whole gallons

Multiply the number of gallons by 4. Two gallons are 2 × 4 = 8 quarts. A 5-gallon bucket is 5 × 4 = 20 quarts. Ten gallons are 10 × 4 = 40 quarts.

Decimals and fractions

Decimals follow the same rule: 0.5 × 4 = 2 quarts, 2.5 × 4 = 10 quarts and 6.5 × 4 = 26 quarts. With fractions, multiply the top number by 4 and divide by the bottom one. Half a gallon is (1 × 4) ÷ 2 = 2 quarts, and 2 1/2 gallons is 8 quarts for the 2 whole gallons plus 2 quarts for the half, or 10 quarts in total. One third of a gallon works out to 4 ÷ 3, which is 1 1/3 quarts or about 1.3333. The calculator accepts all of these formats.

Gallons to quarts conversion chart

Whole-gallon amounts first, then the fractions and decimals that come up in recipes and shopping lists. Every row is gallons × 4.

Need an amount that is not listed? Split it into amounts that are. For 35 gallons, add the rows for 30 and 5: 120 quarts plus 20 quarts makes 140 quarts. Whole numbers and terminating decimals convert exactly; a repeating fraction such as 1/3 is displayed to 10 decimal places.

When you need quarts instead of gallons

Gallons suit big containers, while quarts show up on pots, recipes and product labels. A few everyday cases where gallons to quarts conversions come up:

• Soup and stock: a 2-gallon batch needs 8 quarts of broth, which is easy to count in 1-quart cartons.
• Buckets and jugs: a 5-gallon bucket holds 20 quarts, so you can fill it with twenty 1-quart measures.
• Aquariums: a tank sold as 10 gallons is nominally 40 quarts of water.
• Mixing instructions: if a label gives a ratio per quart and your container is rated in gallons, multiply the gallons by 4 first.

US liquid, US dry and imperial gallons

This page converts US liquid gallons to US liquid quarts, the units on American recipes, jugs and fuel labels. Two other gallons exist, and they do not share the same quart count. The US dry measure uses its own quart of 67.2006 cubic inches, bigger than the 57.75-cubic-inch liquid quart, so dry and liquid quarts are not interchangeable. The imperial gallon is 4.54609 litres, roughly 20% larger than the US gallon, which makes it about 4.8 US quarts. If a UK or Canadian source says “gallon”, check which one it means. The same size gap appears in pints, as explained in US pint vs UK pint.

Gallons, quarts and the other US liquid units

Each US liquid unit is a simple fraction of the one above it, so the gallon is easy to break down:

A classic memory aid is the “Big G”: picture a large G for the gallon, four Qs inside it for the quarts, two Ps inside each Q for the pints, and two Cs inside each P for the cups.

For the ounce side of the same table, use the gallon to oz converter, and see the liquid measurement conversion chart for everything from teaspoons to gallons in one place.

Frequently asked questions