About the Luminance Converter
What is the Luminance Converter?
Screen and projector brightness is quoted in nits or foot-lamberts. This luminance converter converts between them and older CGS units.
Luminance measures light leaving a surface, not the total light output of a lamp.
How to use the Luminance Converter
- Value (sample: 100)
- From (sample: Candela per m² (nit) (cd/m²))
- To (sample: Foot-lambert (fL))
- Press Convert (results also refresh as you type). The result card shows the Converted Value, along with Result, Conversion factor and Reverse factor.
Formula used
1 foot-lambert = 3.4263 cd/m²; 1 stilb = 10,000 cd/m²
Worked example
These are the sample values already filled in the calculator above, and the result it returns for them:
| Input | Sample value |
|---|---|
| Value | 100 |
| From | Candela per m² (nit) (cd/m²) |
| To | Foot-lambert (fL) |
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Converted Value | 29.18635 fL |
| Result | 100 cd/m² = 29.1864 fL |
| Conversion factor | 1 cd/m² = 0.29186351 fL |
| Reverse factor | 1 fL = 3.4262591 cd/m² |
Tips for using the Luminance Converter
- Phones reach 1,000–2,000 nits outdoors; cinema screens target about 48 cd/m² (14 fL).
- Lumens and lux measure different things – use luminance units only for surface brightness.