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Bra Size Calculator Canada

Canadian sizing is American sizing, on a label that is often bilingual and a tape that is usually metric. Enter centimetres or inches; the conversion happens before any sizing arithmetic.

The six-measurement method of the A Bra That Fits community. The band comes from the snug underbust; the cup from the leaning bust and the loose underbust. The tight underbust does not change your size - it adds a note on how firm a band will feel - so you can leave it out. Implemented independently and not affiliated, so a result can differ from theirs. How to take all six.

Not sure where the tape goes? See how to take both measurements.

If your breasts sit low or are soft, add one more measurement

Try it

Move the measurements and watch the size change

Both drawings are the same body: from the side, and sliced across and seen from above. Drag either measurement and both redraw.

Measurements

One body, two views

from the side
from above
Size
34D
Bust
38"
Across the chest
6.64"
Weight, each
423-879 g

An imperial size on a metric tape

Canada is the one market where the tape and the label routinely disagree about units. Everyday measurement here is metric, and most tapes in Canadian homes read centimetres, but bra sizing is inch-based all the way down: the band number is an inch count of the ribcage, and each cup letter is one inch of difference between the bust and that band.

The consequence is that every Canadian sizing chart is doing a conversion somewhere, and most of them do it by putting centimetres into pre-rounded bands. That rounds twice - once into the chart's row, once into the size. Entering your actual centimetre measurement here converts a single time, which is why a figure like 84 cm can land differently than a chart suggests: 84 cm is 33.1 inches, and 33 is exactly between a 32 and a 34 band.

What Canada shares, and with whom

  • United States - identical. Same band, same D, DD, DDD ladder. Most stock is the same product with a bilingual label.
  • United Kingdom - same band, different cups above DD. The UK inserts E and F where America stacks Ds, so a US DDD is a UK E and a US G is a UK F.
  • Europe - metric band, single-letter cups. A 34DD becomes a 75E: the band goes from 34 inches to 75 centimetres and the cup letter shifts by one.
  • France - the European band plus 15. This is the one that catches people in Quebec. A 90C on a French label is a 34C, not a size 90 of anything.

The four inches Canadian fitting rooms still add

Department-store fitting in Canada largely inherited the American +4 convention, and it is still in use. Here is what each method makes of the same tape measurements.

Why your size may look unfamiliar

36Bbecomes32DDD

A 32" ribcage with a 38" bust, fitted the old way and measured directly. The band drops 2 sizes and the cup climbs 4 letters, because the old method took the cup from a band four inches too big. Same volume. Different garment.

The measured size is not a bigger bra. It is the same volume of cup on a band that actually grips the ribcage, which is where roughly 80% of the support is supposed to come from. The +4 version hands that job to the straps, which is why it rides up at the back and digs in at the shoulders.

When Canadian sizing runs out

North American ranges thin out quickly past a DDD, which is seven inches of difference. If the calculator gives you something beyond that, the practical answer is usually to order UK sizing, where the ladder keeps going - F, FF, G, GG, H, HH - and where bands are commonly available down to 28. The UK page has the full ladder and the conversions.

Full conversion tables

The US/Canada column is highlighted.

Band sizes

US and UK bands are the same number of inches. Everything else is metric: the EU band is the ribcage measurement in centimetres rounded to the nearest 5, France adds 15 to the EU number, Italy counts those same 5cm steps as 1, 2, 3, and Australia subtracts 22 from the inch band.

USUKEUAU/NZJPFRIT
282860-6075-
303065865801
3232701070852
3434751275903
3636801480954
38388516851005
40409018901056
42429520951107
4444100221001158
4646105241051209

Cup letters

Every system agrees up to D. Above it they split three ways, and this is where almost all conversion errors happen: the UK inserts single letters between its doubles, the US stacks Ds and then jumps to G, and the continental systems just carry on through the alphabet. A UK E is a US DDD, not a US E. Past a 15-inch difference American labelling simply stops, which is why the US column runs out before the others do.

DifferenceUSUKEUAU/NZJPFRIT
1"AAAAAAA
2"BBBBBBB
3"CCCCCCC
4"DDDDDDD
5"DDDDEDDEEE
6"DDDEFEFFF
7"GFGFGGG
8"HFFHFFHHH
9"IGIGIII
10"JGGJGGJJJ
11"KHKHKKK
12"LHHLHHLLL
13"MJMJMMM
14"NJJNJJNNN
15"OKOKOOO
16"-KKPKKPPP
17"-LQLQQQ
18"-LLRLLRRR

Other pages

Questions people actually ask

Are Canadian bra sizes the same as American ones?
Yes. Canada uses the American system unchanged - an inch band and the D, DD, DDD cup ladder - and most bras sold in Canada are the identical product to the American one, frequently with a bilingual label. If a Canadian retailer lists a 34DD, it is the same garment an American retailer would list as a 34DD.
Why is my bra size in inches when everything else in Canada is metric?
Because Canada metricated its measurements in the 1970s but the garment industry it buys from did not. Bra bands are still an inch count and cup letters still step by one inch, so the label is imperial even where the tape in your drawer is metric. Measure in centimetres if that is what you have - this calculator converts before it does any sizing arithmetic, so nothing is lost.
Which sizing do I use for European brands sold in Canada?
European labels give a metric band and a single-letter cup that does not match the American one above a D. A 34DD is a 75E in European sizing - the band converts from 34 inches to 75 centimetres, and DD becomes E. Simply reading the letter across is wrong from the fifth inch of difference onward.
Do French size labels show up in Canada?
In Quebec, sometimes, and they are the easiest to misread because the numbers look nothing like the ones beside them. French bands are the European band plus 15, so a 34 band is a 75 in European sizing and a 90 in French. A "90C" on a Quebec label is not a 90 of anything you measure - it is a 34C.
Why does my calculated size differ from what I was fitted for in store?
Because most fittings still add four inches to the ribcage measurement before working out the cup, and this calculator does not. A 32-inch ribcage with a 38-inch bust is fitted as a 36B under the old method. Measured directly it is a 32DDD. Both describe the same body; only one has a band that will stay put.
Where do larger cup sizes come from if Canadian ranges stop?
North American ranges commonly stop around a DDD or G, which corresponds to seven inches of difference. British sizing carries on well past that - F, FF, G, GG, H - so people needing more depth than a DDD generally end up ordering UK sizing. The conversion is on this page: a US G is a UK F, and a US H is a UK FF.