No — three incompatible valve systems share the same shelf, and the wrong one simply will not go on the stove. Nothing else in camping kit fails on compatibility as bluntly as a gas canister, and the answer is printed in your stove’s manual rather than on the canister.
The three systems
The EN 417 threaded canister carries a 7/16 inch UNEF screw valve. It is what most modern backpacking stoves use, it is resealable, and it is the fitting that has become the default across Europe.
The bayonet canister uses a different fitting entirely — a push-and-twist connection rather than a thread — and it is common on French and cartridge-style stoves. It is not a variant of the screw fitting and does not meet it.
The pierceable canister has no valve at all. The stove punctures the top on fitting and makes the seal itself, which means the canister cannot be removed until it is empty. It is the oldest of the three arrangements and still widely sold.
Match the wording in the stove manual exactly. That document is the specification for what may be fitted to the burner, and it is written by the people who designed the seal.
What to read after the valve
Once the fitting is settled, the number that matters is the net gas weight — commonly 100, 230 and 450 g. That is the gas, not the package: the gross weight includes a steel shell you also carry, so comparing canisters by what the scale says at home is comparing shells as much as fuel.
Then the gas mix. Makers publish the proportions of propane, isobutane and butane, and that is the cold-weather variable: butane-heavy mixes lose pressure as the temperature drops. Where a canister carries a stated mix, it is a specification worth reading before a shoulder-season trip.
Diameter and height decide how it packs
A canister is a rigid cylinder, and the diameter and height are the figures that decide whether it nests inside your pot and how stable the stove sits on top of it. A pot that will not swallow its own burner and canister costs more pack volume than the grams a lighter pot saves, so check the internal diameter of the cookware against the canister you actually buy.
The three common net weights come in noticeably different diameters and heights, and a wide low canister is a steadier base than a tall narrow one under an upright burner.
Resupply is part of the choice
A stove you cannot refuel on the route is a stove you carry cold, and the three systems are not stocked equally everywhere. Before a trip in an unfamiliar country, the practical question is which valve the shops on the way actually sell — the answer decides the stove as much as any published output figure does.
This is also why liquid fuel stoves still exist. They are heavier, need priming and maintenance, and are bought for cold weather and for places where canisters are hard to find.
Where the instructions take over
Everything above is compatibility and specification. How a canister is fitted, removed, stored, transported and used, and where a flame may be operated at all, are covered by the manufacturer’s instructions for the stove and for the canister, and by the rules of the site or country you are in.
Those documents govern, not a comparison page. Read the stove manual and the canister label, and follow what they say — including on ventilation and on where the stove may be used.
The manufacturer's own instructions come first, and this page does not stand in for them. Every weight, packed length, hydrostatic head, denier, micron rating, lumen figure and temperature on this page is reported from the manufacturer's own documentation, with its unit written as published, and named as such — none of it is measured here. A weight is reported as the maker counts it, and is never restated as another kind of weight, because the two are not the same figure. And for anything with a flame: a stove and its cartridge are used as their own instructions say, and nowhere else. Thread compatibility, ventilation and where a stove may be lit are set by the maker and by the site you are on, not by a comparison page.
What people ask before buying
Is there an adapter between the three systems?
Adapters are sold, and whether one may be used with your stove is a question for the stove manufacturer rather than for a comparison page. The manual names the canister the burner is designed for, and that wording is what governs the equipment.
Why will a pierceable canister not come off?
Because it has no valve. The stove punctures it on fitting, and the seal is made by the stove body, so the canister stays attached until it is empty. That is a design property of the system rather than a fault, and the instructions cover how it is handled.
Last reviewed 6 September 2026