The liquid gallon is a unit of volume in the US customary unit system and uses the symbol gal.
It is the most common use of the word gallon and is defined as 231 in³. It is made up of 4 quarts where there are 2 pints in a quart and 16 US fluid ounces in a US pint. There are therefore 128 US fluid ounces in a US gallon.
The term gallon is most prevalent when discussing and trading oil and fuel. To ensure consistency, the temperature of the liquid (typically petroleum or alcohol) is understood to be 15.6 °C (60 °F) at the time of measurement.
The litre (or liter; US spelling) is a unit of volume and is a non-SI metric unit with the symbol L).
1 litre is equal to the volume in a cube with edges all measuring 10cm. There are 0.22 imperial gallons in a litre. Conversely, 1 imperial gallon is equal to 4.5461 gallons.
1 litre of water weights exactly 1 kilogram.
After the metric system was introduced in France in 1791, it took a couple of years for the entire country to implement it in everyday use. After much backlash, it was decided that the cubic metre was too big for everyday use. By 1795 it was announced that the former 'cadil' (0.001 cubic metres) had been given a new name; 'litre'.