A US 8 is a UK 6, an EU 39 and a Japanese 25. That much every chart agrees on. What most charts will not tell you is that they stop agreeing at the ends of the range — and the reason why is genuinely interesting, once you know it.
This converter works from your actual foot length rather than by adding a fixed number to a size label, which is why it gives a different answer to some others at the small and large ends. Here is the explanation.
Why shoe size charts disagree with each other
Dress sizes convert by a fixed offset: UK is always US plus four, everywhere in the range. Shoe sizes cannot work that way, because the systems count in different units that do not divide into each other.
- US and UK count in barleycorns. A barleycorn is one third of an inch, or 8.47 mm — historically the length of a grain of barley, and the basis of English shoe sizing since the fourteenth century. One shoe size up means one barleycorn longer.
- Europe counts in Paris points. A Paris point is two thirds of a centimeter, or 6.67 mm. One EU size up means one Paris point longer.
- Japan counts in centimeters. Japanese sizing is Mondopoint: the number is simply the foot length. It is the only honest system of the three, and the easiest to convert to.
Because a barleycorn is larger than a Paris point, European sizes advance about 1.27 times faster than US sizes. The gap between the two numbers therefore widens as feet get bigger.
The offset moves by two full sizes from one end of the women’s range to the other. Any chart that applies a single number — “add 31 for European” — is right in the middle and wrong at both ends. That is the entire reason converted sizes so often feel half a size off.
Women’s shoe size conversion chart
Foot length is the column that matters. Every other column is a label that a manufacturer chose to print.
| US | UK | AU | EU | JP | Foot (cm) | Foot (in) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 3 | 3 | 35 | 22.5 | 22.4 | 8.83 |
| 5.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 36 | 23 | 22.9 | 9.00 |
| 6 | 4 | 4 | 36.5 | 23.5 | 23.3 | 9.17 |
| 6.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 37 | 23.5 | 23.7 | 9.33 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 37.5 | 24 | 24.1 | 9.50 |
| 7.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 38.5 | 24.5 | 24.6 | 9.67 |
| 8 | 6 | 6 | 39 | 25 | 25.0 | 9.83 |
| 8.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 39.5 | 25.5 | 25.4 | 10.00 |
| 9 | 7 | 7 | 40 | 26 | 25.8 | 10.17 |
| 9.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 41 | 26 | 26.2 | 10.33 |
| 10 | 8 | 8 | 41.5 | 26.5 | 26.7 | 10.50 |
| 10.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 42 | 27 | 27.1 | 10.67 |
| 11 | 9 | 9 | 43 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 10.83 |
| 11.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 43.5 | 28 | 27.9 | 11.00 |
| 12 | 10 | 10 | 44 | 28.5 | 28.4 | 11.17 |
Men’s and women’s sizes are not the same number
This catches people out constantly, and it matters more than it used to now that so many good shoes are sold as unisex. A US women’s size is 1.5 higher than the US men’s size for exactly the same foot. A women’s 9 and a men’s 7.5 are the same length of shoe.
The converter above has a Women’s / Men’s switch for this reason, and it shows you the equivalent on the other scale alongside your result. Here is the part worth committing to memory:
US, UK and Australian numbers are gendered labels. US women is men plus 1.5. UK is a little different again: US women is UK plus 2, but US men is UK plus 1.
European and Japanese sizes measure the shoe, not the shopper. One foot gives one EU number and one JP number whichever department it was sold in. If you are buying unisex, these are the numbers to trust.
That second point is the practical shortcut. When a sneaker listing confuses you, ignore the US number entirely and look for the EU size or the centimeter length. Those cannot be gendered, so they cannot mislead you.
Men’s shoe size conversion chart
| US men | UK | EU | JP | Foot (cm) | US women |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 5 | 38.5 | 24.5 | 24.6 | 7.5 |
| 6.5 | 5.5 | 39 | 25 | 25.0 | 8 |
| 7 | 6 | 39.5 | 25.5 | 25.4 | 8.5 |
| 7.5 | 6.5 | 40 | 26 | 25.8 | 9 |
| 8 | 7 | 41 | 26 | 26.2 | 9.5 |
| 8.5 | 7.5 | 41.5 | 26.5 | 26.7 | 10 |
| 9 | 8 | 42 | 27 | 27.1 | 10.5 |
| 9.5 | 8.5 | 43 | 27.5 | 27.5 | 11 |
| 10 | 9 | 43.5 | 28 | 27.9 | 11.5 |
| 10.5 | 9.5 | 44 | 28.5 | 28.4 | 12 |
| 11 | 10 | 44.5 | 29 | 28.8 | 12.5 |
| 12 | 11 | 46 | 29.5 | 29.6 | 13.5 |
How to measure your feet at home
Two minutes, a sheet of paper and a wall. Do this once and you never have to guess at a conversion chart again.
Feet swell through the day, by as much as half a size. A shoe fitted at nine in the morning will pinch by six in the evening, so measure when your feet are at their largest.
Paper on a hard floor, one short edge against the wall. Stand on it with your weight on that foot. A weighted foot is measurably longer than a lifted one, and you will be standing in the shoes.
Not necessarily the big toe. Plenty of people have a longer second toe, and fitting to the big toe is why their shoes never feel right.
Almost everyone has one foot larger than the other, and it is often not the one you would guess. Buy for the larger foot and pad the other if you need to.
Width: the measurement nobody converts
Length is only half of fit, and it is the half everyone talks about. Width is where most discomfort actually comes from, and it is close to impossible to convert honestly between countries.
- The US uses letters against a length. For women, B is standard, AA or 2A is narrow, D is wide, and 2E is extra wide. The same letter means a different physical width at a different length.
- Japan measures girth, not width. Japanese sizing gives a circumference around the ball of the foot, which is a different quantity altogether — it accounts for a high instep, which a flat width measurement cannot.
- Most European brands publish nothing. They cut a single width and call it standard. British brands are the exception; Clarks and similar have used letter fittings for decades.
The converter above gives you the vocabulary in each system rather than pretending these map cleanly onto each other. Anyone showing you a tidy width conversion table has invented it.
One thing worth saying plainly, because it is the single most common shoe-buying mistake: do not size up to get more width. A longer shoe is not a wider shoe. You end up with something that still presses across the ball of the foot, now slips at the heel, and puts your toes somewhere the shoe was never shaped for. If the problem is width, the answer is a wider fitting.
Why your feet changed after 50
If you have found yourself buying a bigger size than you did twenty years ago, nothing has gone wrong. Feet get longer and wider with age, and it is one of the most reliably overlooked changes there is.
The tendons and ligaments that hold the arch relax over time. The arch settles, the foot lengthens and spreads, and the change is permanent. Pregnancy accelerates it, and so does anything that has kept you on your feet for decades. Going up a size, or a width, in your fifties or sixties is completely ordinary. Some women do it more than once.
Three other things change at the same time:
- Width usually goes before length. If shoes feel tight across the ball but there is still room at the toe, you need a wider fitting, not a longer shoe.
- The fat pad under the ball of the foot thins. This is why standing on hard floors starts to hurt in a way it did not before. A cushioned insole helps far more than a more expensive shoe.
- Swelling varies day to day. Medication, circulation and arthritis all play a part. An adjustable strap or a lace gives you somewhere to go; a fixed court shoe does not.
The practical advice is the same as for clothes: re-measure every couple of years. A great many foot complaints at this age are not medical problems at all. They are shoes bought to a size someone stopped being in a decade ago.
While you are measuring things, our body shape calculator and dress size converter cover the same ground for clothing.
Buying shoes from another country
- Look for the centimeter measurement. Many international retailers publish an insole or foot length in cm somewhere in the product detail. That number beats any conversion chart, including this one.
- Leave about a thumb width of room. Roughly 1 to 1.5 cm between your longest toe and the end of the shoe. Less than that and your toes hit the end when you walk downhill.
- Check the return policy first. International returns can cost more than the shoes. If returns are not free, order two sizes only if you can send one back cheaply.
- Read the reviews for fit, not quality. If several reviewers say a brand runs small, believe them. They have worn the shoe; the chart has not.
- A shoe should be comfortable in the shop. Leather gives a little across the width, but it does not get longer. There is no such thing as breaking in a shoe that is the wrong size.
Frequently asked questions
What is a US 8 in UK shoe sizes?
A US women’s 8 is a UK 6. For women’s shoes the UK number is consistently two lower than the US number, which is one of the few relationships in shoe sizing that genuinely is a fixed offset. Australian women’s sizes follow the UK scale.
Why does your chart give a different EU size than others?
Because most charts apply one fixed offset across the whole range, and the real relationship is not fixed. European sizes advance about 1.27 times faster than US sizes, so the correct offset drifts from around +30 at the small end to +32 at the large end. We convert through foot length instead, which is why our numbers separate from a fixed-offset chart at the extremes. If you are near the middle of the range the two will agree.
Should I size up or down if I am between sizes?
Up. A shoe that is slightly too long can be taken in with an insole or a heel grip. A shoe that is slightly too short cannot be fixed at all, and will cost you a toenail eventually. The converter tells you when your measurement falls between two sizes.
Are Japanese sizes really just centimeters?
Essentially yes. Japanese sizing uses Mondopoint, where the number is the foot length in centimeters. A 24.5 fits a 24.5 cm foot. It is the most transparent system in use anywhere, and if every country used it this page would be much shorter.
Do men’s and women’s sizes convert?
Yes, and the converter above does it for you. A US women’s size is 1.5 higher than the men’s size for the same foot, so a women’s 9 is a men’s 7.5. UK sizing is closer but not identical: US women is UK plus 2, while US men is UK plus 1. European and Japanese sizes are the same number either way, because they measure the shoe rather than the shopper. Do bear in mind that men’s lasts are cut wider through the heel, so a unisex sneaker in your converted size may still feel loose at the back.
Why do two shoes in my size fit differently?
Because every brand builds on its own last, the shaped form a shoe is made around. Two pairs marked the same size can differ by half a size or more. This is not conversion error, and no chart can solve it — it is why the length in centimeters and the returns policy matter more than the number on the box.
Are my measurements saved?
No. What you enter is sent to our server to be converted and used only to produce the result on screen. Nothing is stored, logged against you or shared. If you copy the shareable link it contains only the size you entered, nothing about you.
