How Many Ounces in a Bottle of Wine? Chart by Size

A standard 750 ml bottle of wine holds 25.36 US fluid ounces, or about 25.4 when rounded. That is about five 5-ounce glasses. Other sizes are multiples or fractions of that bottle: a half bottle holds about 12.7 ounces and a magnum about 50.7. The chart below covers the sizes you’re most likely to buy, and this guide also shows how the math works and what those ounces mean in glasses.

Ounces in each wine bottle size

Bottle	Volume	US fluid ounces	5 oz glasses
Split or piccolo	187 ml	6.3	About 1¼
Half bottle (demi)	375 ml	12.7	About 2½
500 ml bottle	500 ml	16.9	About 3⅓
Standard bottle	750 ml	25.4 (25.36)	5
Liter	1 L	33.8	About 6¾
Magnum	1.5 L	50.7	10
Double magnum or 3-liter box	3 L	101.4	20
5-liter box	5 L	169.1	About 34

The names and glass counts match our chart of wine bottle sizes, which goes all the way up to the 15-liter Nebuchadnezzar. Ounce figures are our own conversions, rounded to one decimal. Real pours vary and a little wine often stays in the bottle, so we’d use the glass counts for planning, not as exact promises.

How the math works

Wine in the US is sold in metric sizes, so getting to ounces takes one division. NIST, the federal agency behind US weights and measures tables, lists one US fluid ounce as 29.57353 milliliters:

750 ml ÷ 29.57353 ml per ounce = 25.36 US fluid ounces

To convert any bottle, divide its milliliters by 29.57 (for a bottle marked in liters, multiply by 1,000 first). A 500 ml bottle is 500 ÷ 29.57, or 16.9 ounces.

Note: These are US fluid ounces. NIST notes that the British Imperial gallon is divided differently, and an Imperial fluid ounce is slightly smaller than a US one, so a British recipe or chart that counts in ounces won’t match exactly.

NIST also counts 8 fluid ounces in a cup, so a standard bottle holds about 3.2 cups. That can be handy if a recipe calls for a cup of wine: it uses just under a third of a bottle.

Why bottles come in these sizes

The sizes aren’t just tradition in the US. Federal rules, set out in 27 CFR 4.72, list the standards of fill that wine must use. The list includes 3 liters, 1.5 liters, 1 liter, 750 ml, 500 ml, 375 ml and 187 ml, along with less common sizes such as 355 ml and 50 ml. Containers larger than 3 liters must be filled and labeled in even liters, which is why you can buy a 5-liter box.

A few of the other legal sizes are worth knowing, because they turn up as cans and small bottles:

Size	US fluid ounces
50 ml	1.7
100 ml	3.4
250 ml	8.5
355 ml	12.0

In our view, the volume printed on the label is the number to trust, particularly on cans and unusual formats. Names such as “single serve” don’t tell you how much is inside, so divide the milliliters by 29.57 and you’ll know.

How many glasses that is

The usual answer of five glasses comes from a 5-ounce pour. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) uses 5 fluid ounces of table wine at about 12% alcohol as its example of one standard drink, and Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny says a standard pour is about 5 ounces and that a 750 ml bottle yields about five of them. Change the pour and the count changes:

Pour size	Glasses per 750 ml bottle
3 oz	About 8½
3.5 oz	About 7
4 oz	About 6
5 oz	About 5
6 oz	About 4
8 oz	About 3

If you’re buying for a group, we’d count on five glasses a bottle and round up.

Ounces and standard drinks aren’t the same thing

Two bottles with the same number of ounces can hold different amounts of alcohol. The NIAAA defines a US standard drink as any drink containing 0.6 fluid ounces (14 grams) of pure alcohol. Its container chart counts a regular 750 ml bottle of table wine at 12% alcohol as five standard drinks, but it also says alcohol content varies a lot within each type of drink.

To see what your bottle holds, multiply its ounces by its alcohol percentage, then divide by 0.6. These are our calculations from the NIAAA definition:

Wine ABV	Pure alcohol in 25.36 oz	Standard drinks per 750 ml bottle
12%	3.0 oz	About 5
13.5%	3.4 oz	About 5.7
14.5%	3.7 oz	About 6.1
20%	5.1 oz	About 8.5

ABV means alcohol by volume, the percentage printed on most labels. The label figure isn’t exact, as our guide to wine alcohol content explains, so treat these as estimates. They’re a way to compare wines, not a target. If you have questions about how much alcohol is right for you, ask your doctor.

Which size to buy

Knowing the ounces makes the choice easier. Here is how we’d think about it:

• One glass: a 187 ml split holds 6.3 ounces, a single generous pour.
• Two people, one evening: a 375 ml half bottle gives each person about 6 ounces, and a standard bottle gives each about 12.7 ounces over the night.
• A dinner party: one magnum, at about 50.7 ounces, pours ten 5-ounce glasses. We like it for a table of four or five.
• A casual party: a 3-liter box, at about 101.4 ounces, equals four bottles and pours twenty glasses. It’s usually the simplest choice.

Our wine party calculator turns guests and hours into bottles if you need a bigger number. For more serving and storage guides, browse Wine Basics.

Wine is for adults of legal drinking age (21 in the US). Please drink responsibly.