Travel Plug & Adapter Checker
Tell it where you’re from and where you’re heading, and it works out whether you need a plug adapter, a voltage converter, or nothing at all — with the plug types, voltage and frequency for over 220 countries.
- Free, no sign-up
- Works worldwide
- Instant results
Your plugs won’t fit France sockets.
United States is 120 V and France is 230 V. Dual-voltage devices (most phone & laptop chargers, marked “100–240V”) are fine with just an adapter; single-voltage devices may need a converter.
United States is 60 Hz and France is 50 Hz. Most electronics don’t mind, but mains-timed clocks and some motors can run slightly off.
United States
120 V · 60 Hz
France
230 V · 50 Hz
Sockets in France
- CTwo round pins — the “Europlug”. Continental Europe and much of the world.
- ETwo round pins with a socket earth pin. France, Belgium, Poland, Czechia.
Plug types, voltage and frequency follow the IEC World Plugs reference. Many countries use several socket types and some buildings have universal or hotel-only sockets, so when in doubt, pack a universal adapter — and always check a device’s label for its voltage range.
Do I need a travel adapter or a voltage converter?
You need a plug adapter whenever the socket shape at your destination differs from your plug — for example, US flat pins won’t fit European round sockets. You need a voltage converter only when the voltage differs (≈120 V vs ≈230 V) and your device isn’t dual-voltage. Most phone and laptop chargers are dual-voltage (“100–240V”), so they just need the adapter. Pick your two countries above for an exact answer.
Methodology: Plug types, residential voltage and supply frequency come from the IEC World Plugs reference (via the mains-electricity-by-country dataset). The adapter check uses a conservative socket-acceptance model — it only treats a plug as fitting where the compatibility is well established (e.g. the Europlug fitting many European sockets), so it never claims a plug fits when it might not. The voltage check compares the ~120 V and ~230 V bands and surfaces the dual-voltage rule; the frequency check flags 50 Hz vs 60 Hz. All logic runs in your browser. How we test & calculate.
Adapter, converter, or nothing?
Three separate things decide whether your devices will work abroad, and travellers constantly conflate them: the plug shape (does it physically fit the socket?), the voltage (is the electricity the right strength for the device?), and the frequency (50 vs 60 Hz). This checker answers all three for any pair of countries, but the headline is usually simple: you need a plug adapter to make the shape fit, and you only need a bulky voltage converter if your device is single-voltage and the voltage is different.
The plug: 15 socket types, A to O
The world uses about fifteen domestic plug and socket types, labelled A through O by the IEC. North America and Japan use the flat-pin Type A/B; continental Europe mostly uses the round-pin Type C/E/F; the UK, Ireland and much of the Gulf and parts of Asia and Africa use the chunky three-rectangular-pin Type G; Australia, New Zealand and China use the angled-pin Type I; India uses Type C/D/M. Plenty of countries use more than one. The good news for Europe-bound travellers is the slim Type C “Europlug”, which fits a wide range of European sockets — which is why the checker treats it as broadly compatible while staying conservative everywhere else.
The voltage: two worlds, 120 V and 230 V
Mains voltage splits the planet roughly in two. North America, parts of the Caribbean and Central America, and Japan run at about 100–127 V; most of the rest of the world runs at about 220–240 V. Plug a single-voltage 120 V appliance into 230 V and you can destroy it (and vice versa, it simply won’t perform). This is where a voltage converter comes in — but most modern electronics make it unnecessary, because they’re built to handle both.
Why your charger is probably fine
Check the small print on any phone, tablet or laptop charger and you’ll almost always see “INPUT: 100–240V, 50/60Hz”. That means it’s dual voltage and frequency-agnostic: it works on any country’s electricity, so all you need is a plug adapter to make it fit. The devices that still catch people out are single-voltage, high-wattage ones — hair dryers, straighteners, curling irons, travel kettles — which often list one voltage only. Those are the ones that need a converter (or, more practically, buying a dual-voltage travel version). Use the travel units converter if you want to sanity-check watts and other figures.
Frequency, and a word on universal adapters
The 50 Hz vs 60 Hz difference matters far less than voltage — for nearly all travel electronics it’s irrelevant, affecting only the handful of devices with mains-timed motors or clocks. As for the all-in-one universal adapter: it’s a great buy if your trip spans several countries or a place with multiple socket types, but remember it’s still just an adapter. It changes the plug shape, never the voltage. Pop the adapter on your packing list so it doesn’t get left in a drawer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. US devices have flat-pin Type A/B plugs, while most of continental Europe uses round-pin Type C/E/F sockets and the UK and Ireland use Type G — none of which accept a US plug. You need a plug adapter. Voltage is a separate question: the US runs at about 120 V and Europe at about 230 V, so any single-voltage device also needs a converter, while dual-voltage devices (most chargers) only need the adapter.