Metric Tons to Kilograms Converter

The ton here is the metric ton, also called the tonne, with the symbol t. One is exactly 1000 kg, so the conversion is moving the decimal point three places: 0.75 t is 750 kg, 3.5 t is 3500 kg.

Two other tons are still in use, and this converter offers neither:

• The US short ton of 2,000 lb. Entering 2000 on the pounds to kilograms page gives 907.18 kg, about 9.3% less than a metric ton.
• The UK long ton of 2,240 lb. 2240 lb is 1016.05 kg, about 1.6% more.

If a figure in tons comes without a qualifier, find out which ton the source means before you convert. For short or long tons, multiply by 2,000 or 2,240 and convert the result as pounds.

Tonnes show up wherever things are too heavy for kilograms to be convenient. A vehicle with a gross weight of 3.5 t is 3500 kg; a 26 t truck is 26000 kg. If a delivery of gravel, sand or soil is quoted by the tonne, a 0.75 t load is 750 kg, which helps when you're checking whether a trailer or van can carry it.

When a quote just says tons, ask which kind. On a single ton, short and metric differ by almost 93 kg, and that gap grows with every ton you order.

For a payload check, convert the load to kilograms and compare it with the payload figure in the vehicle's documents, not its gross weight, which includes the vehicle itself.

Results of a billion or more are shown in scientific notation. Converting 1,000,000 t gives 1.0000e+9 kg, which reads as 1 × 10⁹, or 1,000,000,000 kg. Production, shipping and emissions figures are often in millions of tonnes, so for those it's usually clearer to stay in tonnes.

Large numbers can go in with their thousands separators, so 1,000,000 and 1000000 give the same result. Leave out words such as "million", which the box can't read.

At the small end, 0.001 t is 1 kg, so a tonnage with three decimals is already a whole number of kilograms.