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Cylinder Calculator: Volume and Surface Area

This free cylinder calculator finds the volume, the lateral (side) area, the area of the circular ends and the total surface area from the radius and the height. It also converts the volume to litres.

By Debmedia Technologies LLP · Kolkata, India · Updated

What Is It and When Do You Need It?

A cylinder is a can, a pipe or a tank. To fill it, paint it or wrap it, you need its volume and its surface area.

Enter the radius and the height.

How to Use This Tool

  1. Enter the value or values asked for in the boxes.
  2. Choose the unit label if there is a choice.
  3. Press Calculate.
  4. Read every result in the table and copy what you need.

How the Calculation Works

Volume = π × r² × h. The side area unrolls to a rectangle of 2πr by h, so lateral area = 2πrh. The two ends add 2πr². The total is 2πr(r + h).

Worked Example

A cylinder with radius 3 and height 5 has a volume of 141.372, a lateral area of 94.2478 and a total surface area of 150.796.

Common Uses

  • Tanks, cans and barrels.
  • Pipes and columns.
  • Water volume.
  • Packaging labels.

Tips and Common Mistakes

  • Use the radius, not the diameter.
  • Check the unit before converting to litres.
  • For a half-full tank, halve the volume.
  • Measure carefully: a small error in a length is squared in an area and cubed in a volume, so a 5 percent error in a side can become a 10 percent error in the area or a 15 percent error in the volume.
  • Round only at the end. If you copy a result into another calculation, copy the full number from the tool rather than a rounded one, so small errors do not build up.

Next, you may need the cone calculator, sphere calculator, circle calculator, pyramid calculator.

Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded, stored or sent to any outside service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Volume = πr²h, lateral area = 2πrh, each base = πr² and total surface area = 2πr(r + h).
If the sizes are in centimetres, divide the volume in cubic centimetres by 1,000. If they are in decimetres, the volume is already in litres.
Divide it by two to get the radius.
Yes for the outer cylinder. For the material, subtract the inner cylinder’s volume.

Disclaimer: results are calculated in your browser from the numbers you enter. Check important results before you rely on them for money, health, safety or legal decisions.