3D Box Packing Calculator
See how many items fit in a box — stacked in 3D.
Guessing how many products fit in a shipping carton is one of those problems that looks easy until you try it. The 3D Box Packing Calculator answers it precisely: enter your item's length, width, and height, how many units you need to ship, and the inside dimensions of your box. The tool tries all six ways the item can be rotated, picks the orientation that packs the most units per box, and tells you exactly how many boxes you need — plus the arrangement (rows × columns × layers), the fill rate, and the volumetric weight couriers will bill you for.
As you type, an interactive 3D preview shows your items stacked inside the box, so you can sanity-check the layout before you order packaging. One honest limitation to know: the calculator packs every unit in a single uniform orientation, the way people actually pack identical cartons. Clever mixed-rotation packings can occasionally squeeze in a few more units, so treat the result as a reliable, repeatable baseline rather than a theoretical maximum.
3D preview needs WebGL. Your results below are still exact.
Showing the first 500 items in 3D — the counts below cover all of them.
Boxes needed
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Formula
capacity = ⌊L/l⌋·⌊W/w⌋ per layer × ⌊H/h⌋ layersHow to use the 3d box packing calculator
- Measure one item and enter its length, width, and height in centimeters. Measure the retail box or poly bag it ships in — not the bare product — since that's what actually occupies space.
- Enter the quantity you need to ship, and the inside dimensions of your shipping box (outside dimensions minus roughly 0.5–1 cm of wall thickness). Use the preset dropdown for common carton sizes or type a custom size. If your measurements are in inches, convert first with the unit converter.
- Optionally add the weight per item in kilograms so the tool can compare actual weight against volumetric weight and show which one your courier will charge.
- Read the results: items per box with the best orientation and arrangement (e.g. 3 × 5 × 2), total boxes needed, how many items ride in the final partly-filled box, the fill rate, and the volumetric weight per box.
- Orbit the 3D preview to confirm the arrangement looks right, then use the share button to send the exact inputs to a colleague or supplier.
Worked example
Say you sell a boxed phone accessory measuring 12 × 8 × 6 cm and need to ship 100 units in cartons with internal dimensions 40 × 30 × 20 cm. Packed upright the box would hold 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 units, but the calculator finds a better rotation: laying each unit as 12 × 6 × 8 fits 3 per row × 5 per column × 2 layers = 30 units per box. That means 4 boxes (three full, and a fourth carrying the remaining 10 units). The fill rate is 72% — 30 units × 576 cm³ against 24,000 cm³ of box. The volumetric weight is 24,000 ÷ 5,000 = 4.8 kg per box, so if each unit weighs 0.5 kg (15 kg actual per full box), your courier bills the 15 kg actual weight, not the volumetric figure.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Measuring the box outside instead of inside. Corrugated walls eat 0.5–1 cm per side; entering outside dimensions overstates capacity and you'll pack fewer units than planned.
- Ignoring the leftover box. 100 units at 30 per box is not "3.3 boxes" — you still pay to ship the fourth box carrying 10 units. Consider a smaller final carton or adjusting the order quantity to a multiple of the per-box capacity.
- Forgetting volumetric weight. Light, bulky shipments are billed by box volume (commonly volume ÷ 5,000 in cm/kg). A half-empty large box can cost more than a full small one.
- Assuming the calculator's number is the absolute maximum. It packs one uniform orientation per box — the practical, repeatable way — so a mixed-rotation hand pack can occasionally beat it by a few units.
- Leaving no room for padding. If items are fragile, subtract the thickness of your void fill or dividers from the internal box dimensions before calculating.
Frequently asked questions
Does it rotate items to fit more in?
Yes — all six axis-aligned orientations are tried and the best one is used for the whole box, the way identical cartons are packed in practice.
What is volumetric (dimensional) weight?
Couriers charge by whichever is greater: the actual weight or the box volume divided by a divisor (commonly 5000 for cm and kg). This tool shows both.
Why does the calculator rotate my item?
The same item can fit very differently depending on which face points up. The tool computes capacity for all six axis-aligned rotations — length, width, and height in every order — and keeps the one that fits the most units. In the worked example above, rotation lifts capacity from 27 to 30 units per box, an extra 11% with zero cost.
What is volumetric (dimensional) weight and which divisor is used?
Couriers charge by whichever is larger: the actual weight or the box volume divided by a divisor. This tool uses the common international figure of 5,000 cm³ per kg by default. Some carriers and domestic services use other divisors (for example 6,000), so check your carrier's terms — the volume figure shown here lets you redo that division easily.
Can it handle mixed items or partial rotations?
No — this calculator models identical items packed in one uniform orientation per box, which is how repeat e-commerce shipments are actually packed and keeps the result deterministic. Mixed-item cartons or exotic rotate-every-other-row packings can sometimes fit more, but they're slower to pack and hard to reproduce, so we intentionally show the dependable baseline.