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Data Storage converter
Bytes, and the decimal-versus-binary difference that makes your drive look smaller. 11 units, converted from one table of exact factors.
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Worth knowing. A kilobyte is 1,000 bytes and a kibibyte is 1,024. Drive makers use the first, operating systems often use the second, which is why a "1 TB" drive shows up as about 931 GB.
1 gigabyte in every other data storage unit
Computed by the same engine that runs the converter above, so these can never drift apart from it.
| From | Equals | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| 1 gigabyte | 1,000,000,000 | byte (B) |
| 1 gigabyte | 8,000,000,000 | bit (bit) |
| 1 gigabyte | 1,000,000 | kilobyte (kB) |
| 1 gigabyte | 976,562.5 | kibibyte (KiB) |
| 1 gigabyte | 1,000 | megabyte (MB) |
| 1 gigabyte | 953.6743164 | mebibyte (MiB) |
| 1 gigabyte | 0.9313225746 | gibibyte (GiB) |
| 1 gigabyte | 0.001 | terabyte (TB) |
| 1 gigabyte | 0.0009094947018 | tebibyte (TiB) |
| 1 gigabyte | 0.000001 | petabyte (PB) |
What each unit actually is
Most converters give you a number and stop. Where a figure is exact by definition we say so, and where it is an average or shifts with conditions we say that too — that is usually the thing you needed to know.
| Unit | Symbol | What it actually is |
|---|---|---|
| byte | B | Eight bits. |
| bit | bit | One eighth of a byte. Network speeds are quoted in bits, storage in bytes — a 100 Mb/s line downloads at about 12.5 MB/s. |
| kilobyte | kB | 1,000 bytes. The decimal definition used by drive manufacturers. |
| kibibyte | KiB | 1,024 bytes. The binary definition used by operating systems. |
| megabyte | MB | 1,000,000 bytes, decimal. |
| mebibyte | MiB | 1,048,576 bytes, binary. |
| gigabyte | GB | 1,000,000,000 bytes, decimal. |
| gibibyte | GiB | Binary. This gap is why a "1 TB" drive shows as about 931 GB in Windows — the drive is honest, the two sides are just counting differently. |
| terabyte | TB | Decimal. |
| tebibyte | TiB | Binary. |
| petabyte | PB | Decimal. |
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