Capacitance Converter
Capacitance is the ability of a system to store electric charge, measured in farads (F) in the SI system, where one farad equals one coulomb per volt. The farad is a very large unit; practical capacitors range from picofarads (10^-12 F) in high-frequency circuits to microfarads (10^-6 F) in power supply filters, with nanofarads (10^-9 F) being common in signal conditioning. Modern supercapacitors reach farads to thousands of farads for energy storage applications. Capacitor selection for circuit design requires understanding and converting between these units. Older CGS units like statfarads and abfarads appear in historical physics texts but are rarely used today. Converting between capacitance units is essential when reading component datasheets, designing analog filters, selecting bypass capacitors, and analyzing high-frequency circuits. This calculator displays eight capacitance units simultaneously: picofarads, nanofarads, microfarads, millifarads, farads, kilofarads, statfarads, and abfarads. Type a value into any field and all others update instantly.
Capacitance conversion factors
All conversions below use SI and CGS definitions, with all units expressed relative to the farad (F).
| Unit | Symbol | Farads (F) |
|---|---|---|
| Picofarad | pF | 0.000000000001 |
| Nanofarad | nF | 0.000000001 |
| Microfarad | μF | 0.000001 |
| Millifarad | mF | 0.001 |
| Farad | F | 1 |
| Kilofarad | kF | 1,000 |
| Statfarad | statF | 1.11265 x 10^-12 |
| Abfarad | abF | 1,000,000,000 |
Capacitance converter: frequently asked questions
What is electrical capacitance?
Electrical capacitance is the ability of a system to store electric charge. The SI unit is the farad (F), defined as one coulomb of charge per volt (1 F = 1 C/V). One farad is a very large capacitance; most practical capacitors are measured in microfarads, nanofarads, or picofarads.
What are the common capacitance units?
The farad (F) is the SI unit. Millifarads (mF) are used in large supercapacitors and some power electronics. Microfarads (μF) are standard for most capacitors in electronics. Nanofarads (nF) are used in signal circuits and RF applications. Picofarads (pF) are used in high-frequency circuits, oscillators, and antennas.
What is a statfarad?
A statfarad (statF) is a CGS electrostatic unit of capacitance equal to approximately 1.11 x 10^-12 farads (1.11 picofarads). It is rarely used in modern practice but appears in older physics literature and historical circuit analysis.
What is an abfarad?
An abfarad (abF) is a CGS electromagnetic unit of capacitance equal to one billion farads (10^9 F). It is an enormous capacitance and is almost never used in practical applications. It appears only in theoretical discussions of electromagnetic systems in CGS units.
Why are capacitor values so small?
A capacitor is typically much smaller in farads than a resistor is in ohms or an inductor is in henries. A large capacitor might be 1 farad (used in supercapacitors for energy storage), while typical electronics use capacitors ranging from picofarads to microfarads. This reflects the relative sizes of the units defined in SI.
Official sources
- SI Brochure (9th edition, 2019): The International System of Units. BIPM.
- NIST Special Publication 330: The International System of Units (SI).
Reviewed by the CalculatorHub team, edited by James Graham, 14 June 2026. See our methodology.