Pounds to Ounces Converter

Many scales show pounds with a decimal, like 2.35 lb, while recipes and price labels talk in ounces. The converter gives the total, 37.6 oz. To say it the usual way, in pounds and ounces:

1. Keep the whole number: 2 lb.
2. Convert only the decimal part: 0.35 lb × 16 = 5.6 oz.
3. Put them together: 2 lb 5.6 oz.

A useful set to remember: 0.25 lb is 4 oz, 0.5 lb is 8 oz, and 0.4 lb is 6.4 oz. The decimal after the point is never ounces in disguise. 1.1 lb is 17.6 oz, not 1 lb 1 oz.

Some forms and shipping tools want one number in ounces rather than pounds and ounces. Multiply the pounds by 16 and add the loose ounces:

• A 7 lb 8 oz baby is 7 × 16 + 8 = 120 oz.
• A 2 lb 3 oz parcel is 32 + 3 = 35 oz.

If you'd rather use the converter, type the loose ounces as sixteenths of a pound: 7 8/16 converts to 120 oz, and so does the decimal 7.5. Typing 7.8 instead gives 124.8 oz, almost 5 oz too much, which is the mistake people make when they read "7 lb 8 oz" as "7.8".

This is one of the few conversions with an exact whole-number factor, so the mental methods lose nothing:

• Double four times. 3 lb → 6 → 12 → 24 → 48 oz.
• Ten times plus six times. For 2.35 lb: 23.5 + 14.1 = 37.6 oz.

Going back from ounces to pounds, halve four times, or divide by 16. 120 oz halves to 60, 30, 15, then 7.5 lb.