A number a bag has · liters
14
of 47 listings name a capacity in liters
Capacity in Liters
What it is
Capacity is a volume, given in liters, describing how much the bag holds when empty and open. It is calculated by the manufacturer, not measured to any common standard, and no listing on this site says which method produced its figure.
Fourteen of the forty-seven listings name a capacity, and they do it in two different ways. Eleven state a single figure. Three state a choice of sizes, which means the listing is describing more than one bag, so we count those separately and keep the two numbers apart.
That makes capacity comfortably the best-answered of the five numbers on this site. It is also the one that tells you the least about the five tests that come after the bedroom floor.
Why it matters
It decides Packing at Home.
Because on the floor at home, volume is the whole question. You have a pile of things and a bag, and liters is the only figure that speaks to whether the first goes into the second.
Because it is the one number that lets a duffel, a pack and a case be compared at all. They have no common shape and no common trade size, so without liters they are three unrelated objects.
Because it stops being useful the moment you leave the bedroom. Volume does not fit a frame, does not weigh anything and does not tell you how the bag opens.
What gets written instead
- A list of compartments: a shoe compartment, a wet pocket, a toiletry bag, a mesh top panel. All real, none of them a size.
- A relative word such as extra large or weekender, which is a size only if you already know the scale.
- A device size, such as a 15 in laptop sleeve, which constrains one dimension and says nothing about volume.
- A percentage claim about space saved, which describes a change in volume without ever giving the volume it started from.
The listings that do give it
Every listing below states this figure in its own wording. The other 33 do not, and we have left those blank rather than filling them.
| Listing | Category | What it states |
|---|---|---|
| LIGHT FLIGHT 20" Carry-On with TSA Lock | Carry-On Luggage | 35 L |
| Capolo Expandable Duffle, 32 L to 43 L | Travel Duffel Bags | 32 L |
| Large Travel Duffle, 35 L | Travel Duffel Bags | 35 L |
| Fmeida Foldable Duffle, 65 L | Travel Duffel Bags | 65 L |
| Foldable Waterproof Duffel, 120 L | Travel Duffel Bags | 120 L |
| DoYiKe Extra Large Storage Duffle, 130 L | Travel Duffel Bags | 130 L |
| JanSport Cross Town, 26 L | Backpacks & Travel Packs | 26 L |
| JanSport Cross Town Plus, 26 L | Backpacks & Travel Packs | 26 L |
| ZORFIN Backpack, 26 L | Backpacks & Travel Packs | 26 L |
| Nike Gameday Brasilia X, 24 L or 30 L | Backpacks & Travel Packs | 24 / 30 L, a choice of sizes |
| Nike Gameday Brasilia 9.5, 24 L or 30 L | Backpacks & Travel Packs | 24 / 30 L, a choice of sizes |
| Nike Classics Heritage, 25 L, 23 L or 6 L | Backpacks & Travel Packs | 25 / 23 / 6 L, a choice of sizes |
| Osprey Daylite Expandable 26+6 Travel Pack | Backpacks & Travel Packs | 26 L |
| MATEIN Carry-On Travel Backpack, 40 L | Backpacks & Travel Packs | 40 L |
A stated size is the size of the body. Wheels, feet and an extended telescoping handle are not usually counted inside it, and the frame at a gate counts all of them.
How to get the number yourself
- Fill the main compartment with something of known volume and count how much goes in. A one liter bottle is a convenient unit and most households have several.
- For a rough figure, measure the internal length, width and depth in centimeters, multiply them together and divide by one thousand. That gives liters for a box, and every bag is less than a box.
- Do it with the pockets empty and then again with them full, and note the difference. That gap is the part manufacturers are inconsistent about.
- Write the figure on a label inside the bag. You will not remember it in a year and neither will the listing.
Worth being careful about
- A capacity figure is calculated by the seller. There is no common method behind it and no listing here says which one it used.
- Compression organizers reduce the volume a load occupies. They do not reduce its weight.
- An expanded capacity describes a bag in a different shape from the one a size figure describes.
- Where a listing offers a choice of capacities, it is describing several bags, and only one of them will arrive.