🌍Plug Type Finder

About this tool

Choose where you're travelling from and to, and whether your device is dual voltage. The tool lists the destination's socket types with descriptions, its voltage and frequency, and says whether you need an adapter, a converter, or neither.

Adapters versus converters

Electrical sockets around the world come in 15 common types, lettered A to O. North America and Japan use flat-pin types A and B; most of continental Europe uses round-pin C, E and F; the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia use the three rectangular pins of type G; Australia, New Zealand and China use the angled pins of type I. A plug adapter only changes the shape. It does nothing to the electricity. Voltage differs too: about 100–127 V in North America, Japan and parts of South America, and 220–240 V almost everywhere else. Most phone chargers, laptop power bricks and camera chargers are dual voltage (the label says 'INPUT: 100–240V'), so an adapter is all they need. Hair dryers, straighteners, kettles and some shavers are single voltage and need a voltage converter, or a dual-voltage travel model. Plugging a 120 V-only device into a 230 V socket can destroy it. Frequency (50 or 60 Hz) rarely matters, except for motors and some clocks. Honest limits: the list covers each country's common standards; some have older or regional sockets (Brazil uses 127 V or 220 V depending on the region), so check locally. The watts to amps calculator and the packing list maker are related.

Frequently asked questions