Data Storage Converter
Convert between bits, bytes, and both decimal (KB, MB, GB, TB, PB) and binary (KiB, MiB, GiB) storage units.
About this Calculator
Convert between bits, bytes, and both decimal (KB, MB, GB, TB, PB) and binary (KiB, MiB, GiB) storage units.
Formula & Calculations
Formula
Decimal: 1 KB = 1000 B; Binary: 1 KiB = 1024 B. All conversions use bytes as the intermediate base unit.Where:
- b=Bits (8 bits = 1 byte)
- B=Bytes (base unit, 1 B = 8 bits)
- KB=Kilobytes (1 KB = 1000 B, decimal)
- MB=Megabytes (1 MB = 1,000,000 B)
- GB=Gigabytes (1 GB = 1,000,000,000 B)
- TB=Terabytes (1 TB = 10¹² B)
- PB=Petabytes (1 PB = 10¹⁵ B)
- KiB=Kibibytes (1 KiB = 1024 B, binary)
- MiB=Mebibytes (1 MiB = 1,048,576 B)
- GiB=Gibibytes (1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 B)
Assumptions
- Decimal prefixes (KB, MB, GB, TB, PB) use powers of 1000.
- Binary prefixes (KiB, MiB, GiB) use powers of 1024.
- All conversions use bytes as the intermediate base unit.
Calculation Examples
Example 1
1 × 1,000,000,000 ÷ 1,000,000 = 1000 MB.
Example 2
1 × 1,073,741,824 ÷ 1,048,576 = 1024 MiB.
Example 3
500 × 10⁹ ÷ 2³⁰ = 465.66 GiB (explains why a 500 GB drive shows 465 GiB in your OS).
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my hard drive show less space than advertised?
Manufacturers use decimal units (1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes), while operating systems often display in binary units (1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 bytes). A drive labeled '500 GB' has roughly 465 GiB of usable space.
What does KiB, MiB, and GiB mean?
These are binary prefixes standardized by the IEC in 1998 to eliminate confusion. 1 KiB (kibibyte) = 1024 bytes, 1 MiB (mebibyte) = 1024 KiB, and 1 GiB (gibibyte) = 1024 MiB. They correspond to traditional computer memory sizes.