A cord works out to 128 cubic feet of stacked wood. Enter a quantity to convert it, and check a seller's numbers against it.
Cord · defined by lawCubic feet · not legally definedRuns in your browser
Quick answer
1 cord = 128 cubic feet
1 cubic feet = 0.00781 cords
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Reading
128
cubic feet
1 cord = 128 cubic feet · 128 ft³
What you are actually buying
Stack
4 × 8 × 48″
Face is 4 ft high by 8 ft long. Depth is whatever the logs are cut to.
Volume
128 ft³
Stacked volume, including the air between the splits.
Share of a cord
1 cd
A full cord is 128 ft³ — the legal benchmark to price against.
Legal standing
Yes
Only the cord is defined in statute in most states.
0 inTop-down view · 8 ft wide × 4 ft deep footprint48 in
48 in of 48 in depth — the shaded band is the depth you get; the rest of the 4 ft footprint is what a full cord would fill.
Signature tool
Which quote is actually cheaper?
Two sellers, two units, two species. Price per cord is not enough — oak carries nearly twice the heat of white pine. This compares dollars per MMBtu (one million British Thermal Units — a fixed unit of heat, not a brand or a volume).
Seller A
Per full cord$180.00
Per MMBtu$8.45
Seller B
Per full cord$89,600.00
Per MMBtu$4,206.57
Red oak carries 21.3 MMBtu per seasoned cord
Verdict · heat per dollar
49,677.8%more heat per dollar from Seller A.
Seller A
$8.45 /MMBtuSeller B
$4,206.57 /MMBtu
Enter a price for both sellers. The comparison normalises to a full cord, then to dollars per million BTU for the species you chose.
How this conversion works
Cubic feet are the common denominator underneath every name on this site. A cord resolves to 128 ft³ — a 4 ft × 8 ft face at 48 in deep. Its 4 ft × 8 ft × 4 ft shape is a convention, not a requirement: any stack totalling 128 ft³ is a cord, which is why a 4 ft × 16 ft × 2 ft stack counts just the same.
The 128 figure is not a rule of thumb. It comes from NIST Handbook 130, the model regulation nearly every state weights-and-measures office adopts, and it is the number an inspector will measure a disputed delivery against. Every other unit on this site is a derivative of it.
Worked example
A pickup bed 6 ft long, 4 ft wide and stacked 2 ft high holds 48 ft³ — 0.375 of a cord. Two of those loads still fall short of one.
Heat by species · MMBtu per cord
Black locust
26.8
Hickory
25.4
White oak
24.0
Sugar maple
21.3
Red oak
21.3
Yellow birch
20.3
Green ash
19.9
Cherry
18.4
Tamarack
17.1
White birch
16.5
White pine
13.3
Seasoned to 20 percent moisture, per full cord. Figures follow US Forest Service and state extension tables and are approximate.
Common log lengths against a 4 ft × 8 ft face. Your pair is highlighted.
Sold as
Stack
Cubic feet
Cords
Defined by law
Cord
4 × 8 × 48″
128
1.000
Yes
Bush cord
4 × 8 × 48″
128
1.000
Yes
Stove cord, 16″ cut
4 × 8 × 16″
42.7
0.333
No
Face cord, 16″ cut
4 × 8 × 16″
42.7
0.333
No
Rick, 16″ cut
4 × 8 × 16″
42.7
0.333
No
Face cord, 12″ cut
4 × 8 × 12″
32
0.250
No
Cubic feet (1)
Any
1
0.00781
n/a
Frequently asked questions
How many cubic feet are in a cord of wood?
+
Exactly 128 cubic feet — a cord is defined in most state weights-and-measures law as a stack 4 ft high, 8 ft long and 4 ft deep, and that volume is fixed no matter the species or how it is cut.
Where does the 128 cubic feet figure come from?
+
From the 4 × 4 × 8 ft stack the cord has always described: 4 × 4 × 8 = 128. NIST Handbook 130 codified it as "128 cubic feet of ranked and well-stowed wood," and the states adopted that wording nearly verbatim.
Is 128 cubic feet the wood, or the stack?
+
The stack. The regulation measures the space the ranked wood occupies, air gaps included. Actual wood fibre in a cord runs closer to 80 to 90 ft³, varying with how straight the splits are and how carefully they were stacked.
Why work in cubic feet rather than cords?
+
Because cubic feet survive the trip between regions and sellers. The cubic foot is the measure every other name on this site resolves to, and the one that never depends on a region or a saw.
How do I measure the cubic feet of a delivery myself?
+
Restack it square, then multiply height × length × depth in feet. A stack 4 ft high, 8 ft long and 16 in (1.33 ft) deep comes to 42.7 ft³. Do it before the driver leaves.
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