Frequently asked questions

The total measurement around the thickest part of a box or tube.

Add width and height together, then multiply by two: girth = 2 × (width + height).

Girth for round packaging equals π × diameter.

Calculate the girth first, then add the longest side measurement: length + girth.

The calculator automatically sets the longest dimension as length, so it doesn't matter which order you enter width/height/length in.

Yes — toggle Tube Mode to enter length and diameter instead of three box dimensions.

No. Calculations happen live in your browser as you type.

A live toggle between inches and centimeters.

Yes, your inch/cm preference is remembered in your browser's local storage for next time.

How close your package's length+girth is to each carrier's size limit.

Yes — measure the outermost points of the finished, packed parcel, including any wrapping or protrusions, since that's what the carrier will measure too.

Measure the fully packed, ready-to-ship exterior box, not the product inside it.

The length+girth math itself is exact. The carrier fee estimates are sourced from each carrier's published documentation, but some (UPS, FedEx) are zone-dependent ranges rather than one fixed figure, and DHL/Canada Post base their main fee on an individual side length rather than length+girth — see the note under each carrier for the specific caveat.

To prevent errors from entering length, width, and height in the wrong order.

Yes — enter decimal dimensions (e.g. 12.5) for more precise results.

UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL Express, Royal Mail, Canada Post, and Australia Post — all seven at once.

165 inches (419 cm) is the absolute limit before UPS Ground won't transport the package. A surcharge applies starting at 130 inches — see the UPS card for the current estimated fee.

165 inches (419 cm) is the absolute limit before FedEx Ground won't transport the package at all. Between 130 and 165 inches, an Oversize Charge applies instead of the package being refused — 165 inches isn't a separate freight allowance.

The package exceeds that carrier's absolute maximum transport limit — it may be refused.

The package fits within the carrier's absolute limit but triggers an extra oversize processing fee.

Yes — packages between 108 and 130 inches length+girth reprice to a flat ‘Oversized’ rate by zone rather than standard pricing.

Royal Mail enforces lower maximum thresholds than the North American carriers on this list, and has no discrete oversize fee — exceeding a size band reprices the whole parcel into the next, more expensive band.

The larger Out-of-spec surcharge is based on length+girth and overall dimensions. But Canada Post's smaller Additional Handling surcharge actually triggers on an individual side length, not length+girth — a package can pass this calculator's check and still owe that fee.

Roughly 140 cm (55 in) length+girth, beyond which an Over Maximum Limits Fee or return-to-sender administration fee applies.

No — DHL Express's Oversize Piece fee is based on individual side lengths (not length+girth), and its thresholds are set by DHL's own international express network rather than a domestic postal service.

Yes — an estimated oversize fee is shown inline for each carrier, sourced from that carrier's own published rate documentation, with a verification date.

Fees like UPS's and FedEx's vary by shipping zone, so no single dollar figure is accurate for every shipment — those are shown as a sourced range rather than one exact number.

A panel that groups all seven carriers into No extra fee / Extra fee applies / Won't accept this size, so you can see your options at a glance instead of reading each row.

Accurate pricing requires your package weight, origin/destination zone, and account type (retail vs. negotiated rates), none of which this calculator collects — showing a specific dollar total without that data would be a guess presented as fact.

Each carrier's card links directly to that carrier's own official rate documentation.

Where possible, reduce the width or height (not just length) — girth is driven by the two smaller dimensions, so trimming those has the biggest effect on your length+girth total.

No — girth and length+girth are purely spatial measurements. Weight affects separate carrier fees and dimensional weight pricing, not the girth number itself.

The short explanation shown next to each fee estimate describing exactly why that carrier is charging extra for your package size.

A maintenance script flags each carrier's fee citation for review on a schedule based on how often that carrier tends to change rates: every 90 days for UPS, FedEx, and USPS; 180 days for DHL, Canada Post, and Australia Post; 365 days for Royal Mail.

No — the tool focuses exclusively on dimensional/oversize baseline surcharges, not residential delivery, fuel, or other accessorial fees.

A pricing metric carriers use based on a box's total volume rather than its physical weight — a large, light box can be billed as if it were heavier.

Girth and length+girth determine whether a package is physically accepted or oversize-surcharged; dimensional weight is a separate calculation that can push the billed weight (and therefore price) higher, independent of the girth check.

Yes, via one-click clipboard copy or a branded PDF export.

Yes — free to use, with a ready-to-paste iframe snippet available on the shipping calculator page.

Yes, a live preview of the embedded widget is shown on the main shipping calculator page before you copy the code.

Yes — it's a compact layout (max 380px wide, scales down) built for embedding on any device size.

Yes, the exported PDF captures the OK / SURCHARGE / OVER status for each carrier at the time of export.

Up to 12 anatomical sites on one form.

Chest, waist, hips, neck, bicep (relaxed), bicep (flexed), forearm, wrist, thigh, calf, ankle, and shoulder.

WHR = waist ÷ hips, using both measurements in the same unit.

Relaxed and flexed measurements capture different things — comparing the two over time shows muscle growth separately from baseline arm size.

Yes — switching between cm and inches mid-session automatically converts any values already entered in the form.

The core WHR formula is shown directly on the body calculator page. The Navy body fat and McCallum proportion formulas are shown on their own dedicated pages, since working through them in full would take more room than a quick reference.

Wrap the tape at your natural waist — the narrowest point between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone.

Measure around the widest part of your hips/glutes.

It's a required input for the US Navy body fat estimation formula.

For consistency session to session, measure at a similar time of day under similar conditions — many people find first thing in the morning, before exercise, gives the most comparable readings.

Snug against the skin, but without compressing the underlying tissue.

An optional mode that tracks left and right sides of paired limbs separately, so you can see the size difference between them.

The 7 paired sites: bicep (relaxed and flexed), forearm, wrist, thigh, calf, and ankle.

No — it's off by default. Toggle it on above the measurement form if you want left/right inputs.

They're central, single-value measurements around the body rather than paired limb sites, so there's no separate left/right to track.

As a live result showing both the absolute size difference and the percentage difference between left and right, updating as you type.

Delta — the calculated size difference between your left and right measurement for that site.

It can help surface imbalances between sides that may relate to injury history or asymmetric training — useful context to bring to a coach or physical therapist, though this tool doesn't interpret the numbers for you.

Entirely inside your browser's local storage on this device — never on a server.

Up to 200 sessions.

Yes — one optional photo can be attached per saved session.

Photos are resized and compressed in your browser before saving, which keeps each one small — but browser storage is still limited, so a large number of photo-attached sessions can eventually fill it (see the next question).

You'll see a clear message explaining that storage is full (usually from saved photos) with next steps — export a backup, then remove some older sessions or the photo from one entry, and try saving again.

Yes — as CSV (for spreadsheets) or JSON (preserves full structure, including photos) at any time.

It reads a previously exported CSV or JSON file and merges the sessions into your existing history.

No — it de-duplicates by session date. A session with a new date is added; one matching an existing date's timestamp updates that entry rather than creating a duplicate.

Yes — the CSV export splits left/right paired measurements into separate columns so it opens cleanly in a spreadsheet.

Yes — the JSON export includes your compressed session photos as part of each entry.

Yes — sessions saved before symmetry tracking or photos existed still display and export correctly alongside newer sessions.

As inline SVG generated directly in JavaScript — no canvas element and no external charting library, so it loads instantly.

Yes — a dropdown lets you switch the chart between any of the 12 tracked sites.

The chart averages your left and right measurements into a single line for that site.

Historical values convert to your currently selected unit automatically, even if a past session was saved in a different unit.

Yes — the chart plots your full saved history for the selected site, up to the 200-session limit.

Yes — there's a dedicated guide page for each major measurement site: bicep, chest, waist, hip, thigh, neck, calf, forearm, and wrist.

A body fat percentage estimate using neck, waist, and height (plus hips for women) in a standard formula developed by the US Navy.

It includes a hip measurement in addition to neck, waist, and height, since the underlying formula differs by sex.

A classic bodybuilding formula that uses your wrist circumference as a baseline to suggest target measurements for other muscle groups.

Wrist size is commonly used as a rough proxy for skeletal frame size, which the McCallum method uses as a fixed anchor point for its target ratios.

No — both calculators run entirely in your browser. Your measurements and package dimensions are never sent to a server.

No — no account, login, or email signup is ever required.

No — photos stay in your browser's local storage on your device and are never uploaded anywhere.

This isn't a healthcare product, so HIPAA compliance in the formal sense doesn't apply the way it would to a clinic's system. Functionally, though, no measurement or photo data is ever transmitted to a server — there's nothing collected to secure or disclose in the first place.

Clearing your browser's site data — which usually includes local storage alongside cookies — will remove your saved history, since that's where it's stored. Export a backup first if you want to keep it.

Use the export function to download a CSV or JSON file to your own device.

Your calculator inputs — measurements and shipping dimensions — are processed entirely in your browser and never transmitted anywhere. Like most free sites, GirthCalculator.com does run standard analytics (Google Analytics) and ad scripts to keep the tools free to use; these aren't hidden, and they never see your calculator inputs.

The homepage gives both calculators equal weight so either audience can go straight to the right tool; each calculator's own pages then use section-specific coloring and navigation emphasis.

Terracotta accents theme the shipping section, while forest green themes the body-tracking section, so it's visually clear which tool you're using.

Yes — the link to the other calculator stays in the navigation, just visually secondary to keep focus on the one you're using.

Once a calculator page has fully loaded, the calculations themselves run without further network requests. The site doesn't currently support reloading the page while offline, so keep the tab open rather than refreshing if your connection drops mid-session.

The site uses semantic HTML and labeled form fields, which helps with screen readers and other assistive technology. It hasn't been through a full accessibility audit, so if you hit a barrier, let us know via the contact page.

Inputs are processed live as you type, so results update immediately without an extra click.

Structured reference files that give AI systems direct, accurate context about the calculators — formulas, carrier data, and what makes the tools worth linking to rather than summarizing generically.

No — robots.txt explicitly allows major AI crawlers, including GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot.

So that AI-generated answers and search snippets about carrier size limits or girth formulas cite accurate, current information instead of a generic guess.

Automated conveyor scanners can pick up loose tape, wrapping, or a slightly bulging seam that adds to the measured dimensions — measure the true outer edges to match what the carrier will record.

Measure across the widest/thickest points for length, width, and height, since that's what the carrier will measure.

It can still trigger a dimensional weight charge — carriers often bill by whichever is higher, actual weight or dimensional weight, so a large light box may cost more than its actual weight suggests.

This tool is built for individual parcels, not pallets or commercial freight — use it for box or tube shipments.

It covers seven major carriers across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia (UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL Express, Royal Mail, Canada Post, Australia Post) rather than every regional postal service worldwide.

An extra fee a carrier adds for processing a non-standard-size box. The amount isn't always fixed — UPS's and FedEx's fees vary by shipping zone, for example, while others (like DHL) are a flat amount.

The shipping calculator is single-session — it doesn't save a history the way the body calculator does. Use the clipboard or PDF export if you want to keep a record of a specific result.

Each fee citation is dated, and a maintenance script flags any citation that's aged past its review window (90 to 365 days depending on the carrier) so it can be checked against the carrier's current rate documentation.

No — the embedded widget doesn't run any analytics or ad scripts of its own. It includes a visible, plain-text credit link back to GirthCalculator.com on your page, which is how the tool is offered for free.

No — it covers carrier processing/oversize fees only, not customs duties, VAT, or other regional taxes.

The progress chart plots one measurement over time — it'll look flat if that measurement hasn't changed much between sessions, or if you've only saved one or two sessions so far. To compare left vs. right sides specifically, check the symmetry readout in the results panel rather than the chart, which doesn't plot symmetry directly.

Export your history to CSV, correct the value in that row, and re-import the file — since import matches by session date, the corrected row will update the existing entry rather than duplicating it.

The file may not be a supported image type, or your browser's local storage may be full — try exporting a backup and clearing some older sessions if storage is the issue.

No — the tool operates entirely inside your web browser and doesn't connect to Apple Health or other health platforms.

No — calculations update live as you type, but a session is only added to your saved history once you click ‘Save session.’ Navigating away or refreshing before that will lose whatever you'd entered.

No — symmetry tracking is set up for standard left/right comparison only.

The McCallum method anchors all its target ratios to your wrist circumference — if your wrist measurement hasn't changed, the targets it calculates won't either.

Clear this site's data through your browser's settings (usually under Privacy or Site Settings) — that removes all saved sessions and photos. There's currently no in-app ‘delete all history’ button, so export a backup first if you want to keep a copy before clearing.

It uses the body section's single accent color (forest green) to stay visually consistent with the rest of the page, rather than offering a choice of color themes.

No — the tool focuses on circumference/girth measurements and formulas derived from them, not body weight.

It's rendered as inline SVG generated in plain JavaScript — no canvas element, and no external charting library.

The importer checks that each entry has a date and at least one measurement before accepting it, and skips anything that doesn't meet that bar. It's a basic sanity check rather than full schema validation, so a badly malformed file may simply import fewer entries.

It works on current mobile and desktop browsers (roughly the last several years). Some features — photo attachment and the one-click embed-code copy — use modern browser APIs, so a genuinely old browser may not support every feature even if the core calculators still work.