1 US fl oz = 29.5735 ml, so 30 ml ≈ 1 oz, 50 ml = 1.69 oz and 100 ml = 3.38 oz (labelled 3.4 oz). A 100 ml cylindrical bottle is typically 42–48 mm across and 120–150 mm tall with its cap — about the height of a smartphone; a 30 ml serum dropper bottle is 30–33 mm across and 85–100 mm tall and disappears into a closed hand; a 5 ml perfume is 0.17 oz, about 50–60 mm tall. Water-based formulas weigh about 1 g per ml; oils weigh 0.91–0.93 g per ml. 100 ml is the carry-on liquids ceiling in the US, EU and UK, which is why 30 / 50 / 100 ml dominate perfume and 15 / 30 / 50 ml dominate skincare.
The master table: 14 sizes in oz, grams and millimetres
Capacities are nominal. Fluid ounces are US customary (the figure printed on US labels); grams assume water at 20°C. Dimensions are the typical partner-factory range for a plain cylindrical bottle including its closure, because the same 30 ml can be a tall slim dropper or a squat perfume flacon and the two look nothing alike in hand. Where a format is not made at a size, the cell says so.
| ml | US fl oz | g water | Glass serum / dropper | PET / HDPE bottle | Perfume flacon | Jar | Typical use | In hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 0.10 | 3 | Tubular vial Ø10–15 × 35–50 | Sachet or mini tube instead | 2–3 ml sample vial Ø10 × 45–55 | Sample pot Ø25 × 15 | Sample, discovery set, ampoule | Shorter than a little finger |
| 5 | 0.17 | 5 | Roll-on / dropper vial Ø16 × 60–65 | Mini tube Ø13–16 × 50–60 | Mini spray Ø15–20 × 50–60 | Ø30 × 20 | Travel perfume, sample, lip oil | Length of a lipstick, thinner |
| 10 | 0.34 | 10 | Dropper / roll-on Ø20–22 × 55–75 | Airless mini Ø22–25 × 70–80 | Travel spray Ø15–18 × 80–95 | Ø33–38 × 25–30 | Travel spray, eye serum, perfume oil | A lipstick or a short pen |
| 15 | 0.51 | 15 | Dropper Ø22–25 × 65–85 | Airless Ø25–30 × 75–90 | Ø25–30 × 70–85 | Ø38–43 × 30–35 | Eye cream, spot treatment, retinol starter | Fits inside a closed fist |
| 30 | 1.01 | 30 | Dropper Ø30–33 × 85–100 | Airless / PET Ø30–35 × 90–105 | Ø35–45 × 80–100 | Ø43–48 × 35–45 | Serum, facial oil, entry EDP, foundation | Closed hand, cap showing |
| 50 | 1.69 | 50 | Pump / dropper Ø35–40 × 100–115 | Airless / PET Ø35–38 × 110–120 | Ø45–55 × 95–120 | Ø48–53 × 40–50 | Face cream, hero EDP, SPF | Palm-width; a 50 ml jar is a hockey puck |
| 60 | 2.03 | 60 | Boston round Ø38–40 × 110–125 | PET Ø38–40 × 115–130 | Rare (75 ml is the perfume step) | Ø53 × 45–50 | US "2 oz" skincare, toner, mist | Slightly taller than 50 ml |
| 100 | 3.38 (3.4) | 100 | Pump bottle Ø42–48 × 120–140 | PET Ø40–45 × 130–150 | Ø55–65 × 110–140 | Ø53–63 × 50–60 | Flagship EDP, toner, cleanser, carry-on max | Height of a smartphone; fills the hand |
| 120 | 4.06 | 120 | Ø45–48 × 130–150 | PET Ø45 × 140–160 | Rare | Ø58–63 × 55–60 | US "4 oz" toner, essence, mist | Just over the carry-on limit |
| 150 | 5.07 | 150 | Ø48–50 × 145–165 | PET / HDPE Ø48–50 × 150–170 | Rare (prestige only) | Ø63–70 × 55–65 | Toner, cleanser, body lotion mini, mask | Taller than the hand is wide |
| 200 | 6.76 | 200 | Ø50–55 × 160–180 (glass is heavy here) | HDPE / PET Ø50–55 × 160–185 | Not made | Ø70–83 × 60–70 | Cleanser, body lotion, hair mask, body butter | A standard shampoo bottle from a hotel |
| 250 | 8.45 | 250 | Ø55–60 × 170–195 | HDPE / PET Ø55–60 × 175–200 | Not made | Ø83 × 65–75 | Shampoo, conditioner, body wash | Two hands to hold comfortably |
| 300 | 10.14 | 300 | Ø60–65 × 180–205 (rare) | HDPE / PET Ø60–65 × 185–210 | Not made | Ø83–89 × 70–80 | Shampoo, body lotion with pump | A 330 ml drinks can, slimmer |
| 500 | 16.91 | 500 | Ø70–75 × 200–240 (apothecary only) | HDPE / PET Ø70–75 × 200–240 | Not made | Ø89–100 × 80–95 | Family shampoo, body wash, hair mask tub | A 500 ml water bottle |
Two reading notes. First, the nominal size is not the brim-full volume: a bottle drawing carries a brim-full capacity held to ±5% and a fill line with headspace below it, so a "100 ml" bottle is a cavity of roughly 105–115 ml filled to 100. Second, the format changes the silhouette more than the capacity does. A 50 ml perfume flacon is wider than a 100 ml serum bottle, and a 50 ml cream jar is a puck 48–53 mm across and only 40–50 mm high. If a customer asks "how big", answer with the format first.
ml, fl oz and grams: the conversion and the density catch
Three units describe one bottle, and they only agree for water.
- Millilitres to US fluid ounces: fl oz = ml ÷ 29.5735. So 30 ml = 1.01 fl oz, 50 ml = 1.69 fl oz, 100 ml = 3.38 fl oz. UK imperial fluid ounces are 28.4131 ml each, which is why a "3.4 oz" US label and a "3.5 fl oz" imperial label can sit on the same 100 ml bottle.
- Millilitres to grams: g = ml × density. Water and most toners, gels and light lotions sit at about 1.00 g/ml, so a 100 ml bottle holds about 100 g. Facial and perfume oils run 0.91–0.93 g/ml, so a 30 ml oil bottle holds about 27–28 g. Alcohol-based fragrance sits near 0.85–0.90 g/ml; whipped creams lighter still; clay masks heavier than water.
- Ounces of weight: 1 oz (avoirdupois) = 28.35 g. It is a mass unit and belongs on a jar of cream (net wt.), not on a bottle of liquid (fl oz). Mixing the two is the most common labelling error on a first run.
Practical consequence: tell the filler the net weight in grams at your formula's density and let the fill line follow, or specify the fill line in millilitres and accept that the declared weight follows the density. Specifying neither is how a 50 ml jar ends up over-filled with a light cream.
Enter a capacity in ml and choose the formula type. The result is US fluid ounces and the fill weight in grams.
100 ml = 3.38 US fl oz = 3.52 UK fl oz · about 100 g of product
Why 30 / 50 / 100 ml dominate perfume, and 15 / 30 / 50 ml dominate skincare
The sizes are not arbitrary; they are the output of three constraints that have not changed in decades.
Perfume. A fine-mist pump delivers 0.1–0.2 ml per shot, so 30 ml is 150–300 sprays, 50 ml is 250–500 and 100 ml is 500–1,000 — three to twelve months of daily use, which maps neatly onto entry, hero and flagship price points. The 100 ml ceiling is set by the carry-on rule below, and 50 ml is the largest size a customer will risk on an unfamiliar scent. Below that sit the 2 ml vial and 10 ml travel spray for discovery. The neck is the same across all three, FEA 15 crimp or 15/415 / 18/415 screw, so one pump and one cap serve the whole family. Our perfume bottle supplier page carries the component set and the minimums, and fragrance bottles the specification.
Skincare. A treatment is used once or twice a day at a dose of about 0.15–0.5 ml, so 30 ml lasts roughly two to three months — the repurchase cycle a brand wants. 15 ml is the eye-cream and spot-treatment size, where the dose is smaller and the actives dearer; 50 ml is the face-cream standard because a cream dose is larger and a jar needs headspace for a spatula and a liner. Toners, cleansers and mists move to 100–200 ml because the dose per use is 1–3 ml. Glass stock capacities run 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 50, 55, 60, 75, 100, 110, 120, 125, 150 and 200 ml, and airless bottles commonly 10–100 ml because the format relies on atmospheric pressure to lift the piston. See dropper bottles, glass bottles and, for the 200–500 ml end, HDPE shampoo bottles.
The US label effect. American shelves are priced in ounces, so 60 ml (2 oz), 120 ml (4 oz) and 240 ml (8 oz) exist alongside the metric steps. A brand selling on both sides of the Atlantic usually picks 30 / 50 / 100 ml and prints both units.
The 100 ml carry-on rule
The US TSA "3-1-1" rule, the EU and the UK all limit each liquid, gel, cream or aerosol container in hand luggage to 100 ml / 3.4 oz, carried in one transparent resealable bag of about one litre. The limit is on the container size printed on the pack, not the amount left inside: a half-empty 150 ml bottle is refused, a full 100 ml passes. Three design consequences follow. The flagship perfume size is 100 ml and never 120 ml. A "travel set" is built from 5, 10, 15 and 30 ml components, and a 50 ml is the most a customer will carry of a daily product. And a 100 ml bottle that is brim-full at 110 ml is still labelled 100 ml, because the declared capacity is what the rule reads. Some airports with CT scanners have relaxed the bag rule, but the 100 ml container ceiling is still the safe design assumption in 2026.
Neck finish by bottle size
The neck finish is written diameter / thread series, and it scales with the bottle because the closure has to be in proportion to the body and the pump has to be chosen to the neck, never the reverse. The typical pairings, drawn from our neck finish and closure standards reference:
| Capacity | Narrow-neck bottle (glass / PET) | Perfume | Wide-mouth jar | Usual closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3–5 ml | Tubular Ø10–Ø15; 13/415 | Tubular Ø10–Ø15, plug or mini screw sprayer | Ø33 | Plug stopper, roll-on ball, mini pipette |
| 5–15 ml | 13/415 – 18/410; 18/400 on glass droppers | Tubular Ø15–Ø20 or 15/415 | Ø33 – Ø43 | Dropper, roll-on, 0.1 ml screw sprayer |
| 30–50 ml | 18/400, 20/400 glass; 18/415 – 20/410 plastic | FEA 15 crimp; 15/415 or 18/415 screw | Ø43 – Ø53 | Dropper, treatment pump 0.15–0.5 cc, fine-mist 12.5–15 mm |
| 100 ml | 20/410 – 24/410; 22/400 glass | FEA 15 crimp or 18/415 screw | Ø53 – Ø63 | Lotion pump Ø20–24, sprayer 18–24 mm, disc-top |
| 200–500 ml | 24/410 – 28/410; 28/415 on tall necks | Not made | Ø70 – Ø100 | Lotion pump Ø28–Ø38 at 1–5 cc, flip-top, disc-top |
The second number matters as much as the first: 400 is one thread turn, 410 is one and a half, 415 is two turns on a taller neck, and an 18/400 cap will not seat on an 18/415 neck although both are 18 mm. Specify the neck on the bottle drawing first, then buy the closure to it; where a glass bottle takes a plastic pump the closure factory needs the glass neck drawing, because glass tolerances are wider than injection-moulded ones.
What size changes about cost and minimums
Capacity moves the price per piece less than most founders expect and the minimum hardly at all. A stock glass bottle in any of the standard capacities starts from about 500 pieces undecorated where a partner factory holds stock, about 2,000 screen-printed and 2,000–5,000 per shape sprayed; a made-to-order glass shape carries an industry floor of 30,000 to 100,000–200,000 pieces whatever its size, because the furnace runs continuously and the item must justify a machine changeover. What size does change is weight and freight — glass runs 2–3× the weight of an equivalent plastic bottle, and a 500 ml glass bottle is a logistics decision, not a design one — and the closure: a 28 mm lotion pump and a 15 mm perfume pump are different sub-suppliers with different minimums. The minimums by size and route are on the MOQ index.
Vella is a Guangzhou-based beauty packaging solutions provider — a sourcing partner working with vetted partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP — and every bottle brief we take starts with the capacity, the format and the neck finish written on one line, so the pump, the cap and the carton are bought to the same drawing.
Frequently asked
Choosing between 30, 50 and 100 ml?
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