Treadmill speed converter: mph to km/h
Written by Jamie Miller, Founder & EditorLast checked
3 mph is 4.8 km/h, 6 mph is 9.7 km/h, and a treadmill set to 10 km/h runs at 6.2 mph.
Convert a treadmill speed
3 mph to km/h
3 mph is 4.8 km/h, or 4.828 km/h before rounding. That is a walking pace of 20:00 per mile, and it is the speed the 12-3-30 workout is built around.
6 mph to km/h
6 mph is 9.7 km/h, or 9.656 km/h before rounding, at 10:00 per mile. A console stepping in tenths cannot take 9.656, so keying in 9.7 runs about 0.5% fast rather than matching it exactly.
7.5 mph to km/h
7.5 mph is 12.1 km/h, which is 8:00 per mile or 4:58 per kilometre.
Treadmill mph to km/h chart
Every half step from 1 to 12 mph, with what each one works out at as a pace. The km/h column is rounded to the tenth a console accepts, so it is the number to key in rather than a figure to round yourself.
| mph | km/h | min/mile | min/km |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1.6 | 60:00 | 37:17 |
| 1.5 | 2.4 | 40:00 | 24:51 |
| 2.0 | 3.2 | 30:00 | 18:38 |
| 2.5 | 4.0 | 24:00 | 14:55 |
| 3.0 | 4.8 | 20:00 | 12:26 |
| 3.5 | 5.6 | 17:09 | 10:39 |
| 4.0 | 6.4 | 15:00 | 9:19 |
| 4.5 | 7.2 | 13:20 | 8:17 |
| 5.0 | 8.0 | 12:00 | 7:27 |
| 5.5 | 8.9 | 10:55 | 6:47 |
| 6.0 | 9.7 | 10:00 | 6:13 |
| 6.5 | 10.5 | 9:14 | 5:44 |
| 7.0 | 11.3 | 8:34 | 5:20 |
| 7.5 | 12.1 | 8:00 | 4:58 |
| 8.0 | 12.9 | 7:30 | 4:40 |
| 8.5 | 13.7 | 7:04 | 4:23 |
| 9.0 | 14.5 | 6:40 | 4:09 |
| 9.5 | 15.3 | 6:19 | 3:55 |
| 10.0 | 16.1 | 6:00 | 3:44 |
| 10.5 | 16.9 | 5:43 | 3:33 |
| 11.0 | 17.7 | 5:27 | 3:23 |
| 11.5 | 18.5 | 5:13 | 3:15 |
| 12.0 | 19.3 | 5:00 | 3:06 |
The settings people ask about
| Setting | km/h | min/mile | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 mph | 4.8 | 20:00 | Walk |
| 3.5 mph | 5.6 | 17:09 | Walk |
| 4 mph | 6.4 | 15:00 | Brisk walk |
| 5 mph | 8.0 | 12:00 | Jog |
| 6 mph | 9.7 | 10:00 | Run |
| 6.2 mph | 10.0 | 9:41 | Run |
| 7 mph | 11.3 | 8:34 | Run |
| 7.5 mph | 12.1 | 8:00 | Run |
| 8 mph | 12.9 | 7:30 | Run |
| 9 mph | 14.5 | 6:40 | Fast run |
| 10 mph | 16.1 | 6:00 | Fast run |
The effort column is a plain description of the speed, not a claim about what it will do for anyone and not taken from a source. Where one person walks, another jogs.
km/h to mph
The same arithmetic reversed: divide by 1.609344 instead of multiplying. 10 km/h is 6.2 mph, 12 km/h is 7.5 mph and 16 km/h is 9.9 mph. The converter above goes both ways.
Why some treadmills show one unit
Which unit a machine shows, and how to switch it, is covered brand by brand on are gym treadmills in km/h or mph, with the manual for each one cited. Life Fitness is the one whose manual says outright that its single Units setting covers speed and distance together; the others do not say either way.
If your console shows a bare number with no unit beside it, how fast 10 is on a treadmill covers how to work out which you have. The pace chart takes any speed to a pace, and the speed for a 5k, 10k or half marathon goes the other way from a target time.
How this is calculated
One mile is exactly 1.609344 km, so km/h is mph x 1.609344 and mph is km/h / 1.609344. Neither direction carries an approximation; the only rounding is for display.
Pace comes from the exact speed rather than the rounded one: 3,600 / km/h gives seconds per kilometre, and multiplying that by 1.609344 gives seconds per mile. Times round to the nearest second and carry the rounding, so a pace never prints as 7:60.
The km/h column is rounded to one decimal because that is the step a treadmill console takes. 3 mph is 4.828 km/h exactly, and no machine will accept that.
Sources
- Independently verified, Independent publication
- One mile is exactly 1.609344 kmNIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology)SI units — lengthOpened 19 September 2026Corroborated byWeights and Measures Act 1985 (UK)Schedule 1, Part VI: Mile = 1760 yards; YARD = 0.9144 metreOpened 19 September 2026NIST states that the inch has been exactly 25.4 mm since the international yard and pound agreement of 1959. A mile is 63,360 inches, so it is exactly 1,609.344 m. UK statute gives the same number by a different route: Schedule 1 Part VI of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 sets "Mile = 1760 yards" and "YARD = 0.9144 metre", and 1760 x 0.9144 is 1,609.344 exactly. THE CAVEAT, because it is the reason this is a B and not higher: both descend from the same 1959 international agreement, so they are independent publications rather than independent measurements. Neither copies the other, and an error in one would not reach the other, which is what the B test asks. It is a definition rather than a measurement either way, which is why every conversion on these pages is exact.
Limits
A console shows the belt speed it is commanding, not a measurement of the belt. A machine out of calibration, or one with a slipping belt under load, will not be doing exactly what the display says. We have not measured any machine's belt speed.
Setting a rounded metric speed is not identical to the imperial one. 3 mph is 4.828 km/h, so keying in 4.8 is 14 m short over half an hour. Real enough to state, small enough to ignore.
Related tools
Looking for a machine rather than a number? See our guide to treadmills and the speeds they actually reach. Every specification there carries its source and the date it was checked.