Convert kmh to knots

One kilometer per hour equals 0.539957 knots. To convert any number of kilometers per hour to knots, multiply by 0.5399568.

The converter above works in both directions and updates as you type. Below you will find the formula, a worked example and a reference table of common values.

Speed conversions divide by audience. Road speeds move between kilometres and miles per hour and are what a driver or a runner needs. Metres per second is what every equation of motion expects, so it is the form any physics problem has to reach. Knots belong to the sea and the air, where one knot is one nautical mile per hour and a nautical mile is one minute of latitude — a system built around navigation rather than around convenience.

kmh to knots formula

To go the other way, use kilometer per hour = knot ÷ 0.5399568.

About these units

Kilometres per hour is the road-speed unit in most of the world. Dividing by 3.6 converts it to metres per second, the SI unit physics uses.

One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The name comes from the knotted rope once trailed behind a ship to measure its speed.

Kilometer per hour is also written kilometres per hour, kmh, kph, kmph, km/hr and kmh. Knot is also written knots, kts, kt, nautical miles per hour, knoten, nudos and noeuds.

Sources

1. International Hydrographic Conference, Monaco, 1929 — the international nautical mile as exactly 1,852 metres, from which the knot follows.