Every other converter on this site uses a fixed, legally defined factor: an inch is 25.4 mm today and will be in fifty years. Exchange rates are the opposite. They move every second the markets are open, and the number you see depends on who is quoting it and why. This page uses one clearly defined source and tells you exactly what it is.
Quick reference
The table follows whichever currencies you select above, at the rate date shown in the converter.
Where the rates come from
The figures are the euro foreign exchange reference rates published by the European Central Bank, delivered through Frankfurter, a free open-source service that republishes them. The ECB sets these once per working day, at around 16:00 Central European Time, from a regular concertation between central banks. There is no new set on weekends or on TARGET holidays, so on a Saturday you will see Friday’s rates, and the converter says so.
All rates are quoted against the euro. A conversion between two other currencies — Australian dollars to US dollars, say — is calculated through the euro. That is called a cross rate, and it can differ from a direct market quote by a fraction of a cent, which is far smaller than any fee you will pay.
The ECB publishes rates for about thirty currencies: the major ones plus most of Europe and the larger Asia-Pacific and Latin American economies. It does not cover, for example, the UAE dirham, the Saudi riyal, the Taiwan dollar, the Vietnamese dong or the Nigerian naira, so those are not in the list.
Why your bank will give you a different number
What you see here is the mid-market rate: the midpoint between the price at which banks buy a currency and the price at which they sell it. Nobody outside the wholesale market actually trades at that rate. Everyone else pays a margin on top.
- Card payments abroad are converted at the card network’s rate, usually close to mid-market, and then many banks add a foreign transaction fee, commonly a few per cent.
- Bank transfers often carry a margin built into the rate as well as a flat fee, and the margin is the part people overlook.
- Airport and hotel exchange counters tend to have the widest spreads of all, even when they advertise “no commission”.
The useful habit is to compare the rate you are offered against this one. If 100 of your currency buys noticeably less than the converter shows, the difference is the provider’s margin, whatever the fee line says.
Always choose to pay in the local currency. When a card terminal or ATM overseas asks whether you want to be charged in your home currency, that is dynamic currency conversion. The rate is set by the merchant’s payment provider rather than your card network, and it is usually markedly worse. Declining it costs nothing.
Where people go wrong
Treating a quote as a promise
A converter tells you roughly what an amount is worth. It does not lock in a rate. For a large transfer — a house deposit, a year of university fees — the rate can move by a few per cent between the day you check and the day the money moves. Providers that offer a fixed or forward rate exist for exactly that reason.
Reading the rate the wrong way round
“EUR/USD 1.10” means one euro costs 1.10 dollars, not the reverse. Halfway through a calculation it is easy to multiply where you should divide. The Swap button and the parallel scales above make the direction visible: the top scale is always the currency you are converting from.
Cents that don’t exist
Results are shown to two decimal places for every currency, but not every currency uses them. The Japanese yen and the South Korean won have no minor unit in everyday use, so a result of 15,432.67 JPY is paid as 15,433 yen. Very small results are shown to four significant figures instead, so a single yen or rupiah doesn’t disappear as 0.00.
Common questions
How current are these rates?
They are the most recent ECB reference rates, and the converter shows their date. Between publications, the live market keeps moving, so treat any figure as indicative rather than exact.
Can I use this for accounts or tax?
Tax authorities usually specify which rate to use — often their own published rates, or a central bank rate on the transaction date. The ECB rate is widely accepted in Europe, but check the rule that applies to you rather than assuming.
Does this page see the amounts I enter?
No. The page downloads one table of rates, then does the arithmetic in your browser like every other converter here. The amounts you type are never sent anywhere.