Convert Kilocalories to Watt-hours
Convert Kilocalories to Watt-hours instantly. 1 Kilocalory (kcal) equals 1.1622 Watt-hours (Wh).
Kilocalories to Watt-hours conversion table
| Kilocalories (kcal) | Watt-hours (Wh) |
|---|---|
| 1 kcal | 1.1622 Wh |
| 2 kcal | 2.3244 Wh |
| 3 kcal | 3.4867 Wh |
| 5 kcal | 5.8111 Wh |
| 10 kcal | 11.6222 Wh |
| 20 kcal | 23.2444 Wh |
| 50 kcal | 58.1111 Wh |
| 100 kcal | 116.2222 Wh |
| 500 kcal | 581.1111 Wh |
| 1,000 kcal | 1,162.22 Wh |
1 Kilocalory = 1.1622 Watt-hours · multiply Kilocalories by 1.1622
About converting Kilocalories to Watt-hours
Kilocalories (kcal) and Watt-hours (Wh) are both units of energy, so converting between them is a single multiplication: multiply your Kilocalories figure by 1.1622. Ten Kilocalories comes to 11.6222 Watt-hours, and a hundred works out at 116.2222 Watt-hours.
Rule of thumb: going from Kilocalories to Watt-hours multiplies, so the figure always grows — one Kilocalory is already 1.1622 Watt-hours. If your answer came out smaller, you have the conversion the wrong way round.
What is a Kilocalory?
A kilocalorie is a thousand small calories, and it is what people actually mean when they say "calories" about food. Every figure on a nutrition label, every count on a menu board and every target in a diet app is a kilocalorie, even where the label just prints "cal" — a 2,000-calorie day is 2,000 kcal, not 2,000 calories in the physicist’s sense. The convention of capitalising the food unit as Calorie was meant to mark that difference, but it survives mostly in textbooks. Most of the world prints both kJ and kcal on packaging; the United States prints calories alone, which keeps the ambiguity alive.
What is a Watt-hour?
A watt-hour is energy, not power, and that distinction trips people up constantly. A watt is a rate — energy per second — so a watt-hour is what you get by sustaining that rate for an hour: a quantity of energy expressed as "this much power for this long". It is the natural unit for anything that stores energy and releases it gradually, which is why phone and laptop batteries are rated in watt-hours rather than the milliamp-hours stamped on the cell, and why airlines police lithium batteries by their watt-hour rating. Capacity in watt-hours tells you how long a load can run; watts alone never can.
To put both in perspective: a plain bagel runs to roughly 250 kilocalories, while a phone battery holds somewhere around 15 watt-hours.
The converter above updates as you type, and the table lists common values for quick reference. Need the opposite direction? Use the Watt-hours to Kilocalories converter, or browse all Energy converters.
Frequently asked questions
How many Watt-hours are in one Kilocalory?
There are 1.1622 Watt-hours in one Kilocalory.
How do I convert Kilocalories to Watt-hours?
Multiply the number of Kilocalories by 1.1622. For example, 10 Kilocalories = 11.6222 Watt-hours.
What is 100 Kilocalories in Watt-hours?
100 Kilocalories is equal to 116.2222 Watt-hours.
How do I convert Watt-hours to Kilocalories?
Multiply the Watt-hours value by 0.8604 (or divide by 1.1622).
Is this Kilocalories to Watt-hours conversion exact?
The definition is exact — Kilocalories and Watt-hours are both fixed against the same base by international agreement — but the decimal shown here is rounded for readability, because the true ratio does not terminate. For engineering or scientific work, carry more decimal places than this page displays.
What is a Kilocalory?
A kilocalorie is a thousand small calories, and it is what people actually mean when they say "calories" about food. Every figure on a nutrition label, every count on a menu board and every target in a diet app is a kilocalorie, even where the label just prints "cal" — a 2,000-calorie day is 2,000 kcal, not 2,000 calories in the physicist’s sense. The convention of capitalising the food unit as Calorie was meant to mark that difference, but it survives mostly in textbooks. Most of the world prints both kJ and kcal on packaging; the United States prints calories alone, which keeps the ambiguity alive.
What is a Watt-hour?
A watt-hour is energy, not power, and that distinction trips people up constantly. A watt is a rate — energy per second — so a watt-hour is what you get by sustaining that rate for an hour: a quantity of energy expressed as "this much power for this long". It is the natural unit for anything that stores energy and releases it gradually, which is why phone and laptop batteries are rated in watt-hours rather than the milliamp-hours stamped on the cell, and why airlines police lithium batteries by their watt-hour rating. Capacity in watt-hours tells you how long a load can run; watts alone never can.