Currency Converter

What the converter does

The Currency Converter turns an amount in one currency into another using a daily reference exchange rate. You enter the amount, choose the currency you are converting from and the one you are converting to, and the result appears with the rate in both directions and the date the rate applies to. The swap button reverses the pair in one click. Every time you change the "from" currency the tool downloads a fresh set of rates for that currency, so the figures you see are always the ones that came with the date shown under the result.

Where the rates come from

The tool does not rely on a single provider. It asks four public sources in turn and uses the first one that answers properly: a free currency-rate data set served through two content networks, the open ExchangeRate-API endpoint, and the European Central Bank reference rates published through Frankfurter. If one of them is down or returns something unexpected, the next is tried. If every source fails, the tool says that rates are unavailable instead of showing an old number. The name of the source and the date of the rates are printed under every result, so you always know how fresh the figure is.

A worked example

Rates change every day, so the numbers below use an invented rate to show the arithmetic rather than a real quote. Suppose the page shows 1 USD = 0.92 EUR. Then 1,000 USD converts to 1,000 × 0.92 = 920.00 EUR, and the reverse line reads 1 EUR = 1.086957 USD, because 1 ÷ 0.92 is about 1.086957. Now imagine a card or transfer service that quietly adds a 3 percent margin to the rate. It would hand you 920 × 0.97 = 892.40 EUR, which is 27.60 EUR less than the mid-market figure, even though it advertises no fee at all.

Why your bank gives a different number

The rate on this page is a mid-market rate, the midpoint between the price at which dealers buy and sell a currency. Banks, card networks, airport kiosks and transfer apps do not trade at the midpoint. Each one adds a spread, and many add a fixed fee as well. Three habits help when you compare offers:

• Compare the amount received, not the headline rate. A provider with a "zero fee" label and a poor rate can cost more than one with a visible fee and a rate close to the midpoint.
• Decline conversion at the terminal. When a foreign card machine or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, the rate it uses usually includes a large margin. Paying in the local currency lets your own bank do the conversion.
• Use this page as the yardstick. Convert the amount here, then see how far the offered figure falls short. That gap is the real cost of the conversion.

Currencies and codes

Currencies are identified by three-letter ISO 4217 codes such as USD, EUR, GBP, PKR, INR, AED, SAR, CAD, AUD, JPY and CNY. These popular codes are listed first, followed by every other real national currency the rate source publishes, around 200 when the main source answers. The backup sources list fewer, and the European Central Bank list is the shortest. Crypto tokens, precious metals and obsolete codes are filtered out, because they are not fiat currencies and their prices move too fast for a daily reference rate. Some currencies are tightly controlled, and the rate available for a real transaction can differ from a published reference rate, so treat the result as a guide in those cases.

Privacy and limits

Only the currency code is sent when the tool fetches rates, because the code is part of the address of the rate file. The amount you type never leaves your browser. The converter needs an internet connection to download rates, and it gives a reference rate, not an offer: it cannot tell you what a bank will pay, and it should not be used for invoices or accounts that must use an official rate. For those, use the rate your bank, supplier or tax authority specifies.

What to do next

For measurements instead of money, the Unit Converter works the same way, and the Timezone Converter helps when you are scheduling a payment or a call across countries. If you shop across borders, the guide to how GST and VAT are calculated explains why the tax on an imported item changes the final price, and the Percentage Calculator lets you work out a provider's margin in percent.