Data Storage Converter
Convert between bits, bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB, and binary (KiB, MiB, GiB) units.
| Unit | Value |
|---|---|
| Bit (b) | 8.000000e+9 |
| Byte (B) | 1.000000e+9 |
| Kilobyte (KB) | 1 |
| Megabyte (MB) | 1000 |
| Gigabyte (GB) | 1 |
| Terabyte (TB) | 0.001 |
| Petabyte (PB) | 0.000001 |
| Kibibyte (KiB) | 976562.5 |
| Mebibyte (MiB) | 953.6743 |
| Gibibyte (GiB) | 0.9313226 |
| Tebibyte (TiB) | 0.0009094947 |
Decimal (SI) vs binary units
Decimal units (KB, MB, GB, TB) — Defined by the International System of Units (SI). Each step is exactly 1,000× the previous: 1 KB = 1,000 bytes, 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes. Used by hard drive and SSD manufacturers when listing storage capacity.
Binary units (KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB) — Standardised by the IEC in 1998. Each step is 1,024× the previous: 1 KiB = 1,024 bytes, 1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 bytes. Used by operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux) when reporting file and drive sizes.
This mismatch explains why a "1 TB" hard drive shows as roughly 931 GiB in Windows. The drive contains exactly 1,000,000,000,000 bytes — the OS reports it in binary GiB, giving a smaller number.
Common file and storage sizes
Frequently Asked Questions
MB (megabyte) uses base-10: 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes. MiB (mebibyte) uses base-2: 1 MiB = 1,048,576 bytes (2²⁰). Hard drive manufacturers use base-10 (MB), while operating systems and RAM use base-2 (MiB) — which is why a '1 TB' drive shows less capacity in your OS.