Cylinder Surface Area Calculator

Calculate the total exterior area of a closed right circular cylinder from its radius and height. Both circular ends and the curved side are included.

How to use Cylinder Surface Area Calculator

1. Choose Measurement Unit, then enter Radius, Height without a unit suffix. 2. Use the selected ordinary, square or cubic unit for each measurement as explained below; changing the selector relabels inputs and does not convert them. 3. Select Calculate, or press Enter, and read total surface area. 4. Select Select Copy result to copy the answer, or Reset to clear the form.

Why use this tool?

Estimate the ideal surface area of a closed cylindrical object before adding seams, waste, coatings or material thickness.

How the calculation works

Total surface area = 2πr² + 2πrh: two circular end caps plus the curved side. Radius and height must use the same length unit. Results use up to six decimal places. Tiny nonzero results below 0.000001 use scientific notation with six significant digits. Browser floating-point arithmetic can introduce small rounding differences. Inputs and calculated magnitudes must not exceed 9,007,199,254,740,991. Negative physical measurements and arithmetic underflow are rejected. Zero dimensions are treated as a degenerate limit where the formula allows them; divisors and sides of an actual triangle must be positive. Formula reference: https://openstax.org/books/prealgebra-2e/pages/c-geometric-formulas

Example

Radius = 3 cm and Height = 10 cm give 2π × 3² + 2π × 3 × 10 = 245.044227 cm².

Practical tip

For an open container, subtract one circular base area for each missing end. This page always includes both ends.