Data Storage Converter

1. Enter the value you want to convert.
2. Choose the from unit.
3. Choose the to unit.
4. Read the result and the conversion rate.

Here is what each result means:

Data storage is measured in bits and bytes. A bit is a single one or zero, the smallest piece of digital information, and a byte is eight bits, enough to hold one character of text. Every file, photo and video is ultimately a count of bytes, and larger amounts are named with prefixes like kilo, mega, giga and tera.

There are two families of prefix, and this is the source of much confusion. The decimal units, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte and so on, step by 1,000 each time. The binary units, kibibyte, mebibyte and gibibyte, step by 1,024. Storage makers usually quote decimal gigabytes, while operating systems often report binary units, which is why a drive sold as 1 terabyte shows up as about 931 gibibytes.

This converter bridges every unit through the byte. It multiplies your value by the number of bytes in its unit, then divides by the number in the target unit. Because each unit has a fixed size, the conversions are exact and never change.

Note that this measures a fixed quantity of stored data, not a speed. If you want to know how fast data moves, in megabits per second for example, use a data transfer rate converter instead, which deals in units per second rather than a total size.

It converts through the byte, the standard unit of stored data.

1. Your value is multiplied by its unit's size in bytes.
2. That gives the size in bytes, the common base.
3. Dividing by the target unit's size gives the result.

For speed rather than size, see the data transfer rate converter. For number bases, see the base converter.

Convert 1 GB to megabytes.

Result: 1 gigabyte is 1,000 MB in decimal units. If instead you meant a gibibyte, the binary unit, 1 GiB is 1,024 MiB, or about 1,073.7 MB. Choosing the right family matters for large sizes.

Every unit has a fixed size in bytes.

Terabytes and petabytes continue the decimal pattern with powers of 1,000, while tebibytes continue the binary pattern with powers of 1,024. The gap between the two families grows with size: it is 2.4 percent at the kilo level but about 10 percent by the tera level.

The two families differ by their step size, and the difference compounds.

This is why a 1 terabyte drive, sold in decimal terabytes, appears as about 931 gibibytes in an operating system that counts in binary. No storage is missing; the two systems simply label the same bytes differently, and comparing them without noticing the family causes confusion.

The Two Units

The ratio between the from-unit and to-unit sets the result; each has a fixed size in bytes.

Decimal Versus Binary

A megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes, while a mebibyte is 1,048,576. Picking the wrong family changes the answer.

Bits Versus Bytes

A byte is eight bits, so a bit value is one eighth of the same number of bytes.

Buying Storage

Compare a drive's advertised decimal size with the binary size your computer reports.

Planning Space

Work out how many photos or videos fit in a given number of gigabytes.

Development

Convert file sizes between bytes, kilobytes and mebibytes when reading logs or specs.

1. Mixing Decimal and Binary

A gigabyte is not a gibibyte. Treating them as equal introduces up to a 7 percent error.

2. Confusing Bits and Bytes

Storage is quoted in bytes, transfer speed usually in bits. A byte is eight bits.

3. Expecting a Drive to Match

A 1 TB drive showing as 931 GiB is normal, not faulty; the units differ.

4. Wrong Direction

Check which unit is the from and which is the to; swapping them inverts the result.

5. Confusing Size with Speed

This converts a fixed size. For a per-second rate, use a transfer rate converter.

Conversions use fixed factors relative to the byte.

1,000 megabytes in decimal units, the ones storage makers use. In binary units, 1 gibibyte is 1,024 mebibytes.

A gigabyte is 1,000,000,000 bytes. A gibibyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes, about 7 percent larger. Drives use GB; many operating systems report GiB but label it GB.

Eight. So to convert bytes to bits, multiply by eight, and to convert bits to bytes, divide by eight.

The drive is 1 decimal terabyte, or 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Your computer counts in binary and shows about 931 gibibytes, labelled GB. No space is missing.

Bytes, and their multiples like megabytes and gigabytes. Bits are more common for transfer speeds, such as megabits per second.

A gigabyte is bigger. One gigabyte is 1,000 megabytes in decimal units, or 1,024 mebibytes in binary units.

A petabyte is 1,000 terabytes, or a quadrillion bytes in decimal units. It is used for very large data centres and archives.

No. This converts a fixed amount of stored data. For a per-second speed like megabits per second, use a data transfer rate converter.

No. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere, unless you choose Save, which keeps the result only on this device.

• Byte (Wikipedia).
• Binary prefix (Wikipedia).
• Units of information (Wikipedia).