Instantly convert any digital storage value between SI decimal, IEC binary, and bit-based units.
A byte converter lets you switch instantly between the many units used to measure digital storage and data transfer — from individual bytes through kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes, all the way up to petabytes, as well as IEC binary units such as kibibytes and mebibytes, and bit-based units like megabits and gigabits.
Modern computing uses two parallel naming systems: SI decimal prefixes (kB = 1,000 bytes) adopted by hard-drive manufacturers and network providers, and IEC binary prefixes (KiB = 1,024 bytes) used by operating systems for RAM and file sizes. Knowing the difference is essential to avoid confusion when comparing drive capacities, download speeds, and file sizes.
All conversions pass through bytes as the pivot unit: first multiply the source value by its byte-equivalent factor, then divide by the target unit's factor.
where f is the number of bytes per unit. For example, 1 MB = 1,000,000 B and 1 MiB = 1,048,576 B.
Netflix recommends roughly 25 Mbit/s (megabits per second) for 4K Ultra HD streaming. Over one hour that amounts to approximately 11.25 GB of data transferred — a figure that matters when checking against a monthly broadband data cap.
Apple's iPhone 15 Pro is available with up to 1 TB of internal flash storage (SI terabytes). In operating-system terms that is about 0.909 TiB (tebibytes), which is why the reported free space on-device is slightly less than the marketed figure.
Gmail enforces a 25 MB limit on email attachments. In bytes that is exactly 25,000,000 B, or about 23.84 MiB. Files larger than this must be shared via Google Drive instead, making the MB/MiB distinction relevant in everyday email workflows.
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 has a maximum theoretical throughput of 20 Gbit/s (gigabits per second), which equals 2.5 GB/s (gigabytes per second). Real-world speeds are lower, but the conversion clarifies why interface specs are listed in Gbit/s rather than GB/s.
Type any numeric value into the input field at the top of the converter.
Choose the unit your value is expressed in using the dropdown — all 15 units are listed with their symbols.
The five primary result cards update instantly showing bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes.
Click 'More storage units' to expand the additional section and see petabytes, kibibytes, mebibytes, gibibytes, tebibytes, pebibytes, bits, kilobits, megabits, and gigabits.
To convert in the opposite direction, simply select a new source unit from the dropdown and enter a new value — results refresh immediately.
1 kB = 1,000 B (SI, used by storage manufacturers and network providers) vs. 1 KiB = 1,024 B (IEC, used by operating systems). This 2.4% difference compounds dramatically at larger scales.
1 GB = 1,000,000,000 B but Windows reports a 1 GB file as roughly 953.67 MiB. This mismatch is the source of the common complaint that hard drives show less space than advertised.
1 Mbit/s = 0.125 MB/s. Internet speeds are always quoted in megabits per second (Mbit/s), while file download progress bars show megabytes per second (MB/s) — divide by 8 to convert.
1 PB = 1,000 TB = 1,000,000 GB. Petabytes are used by cloud providers (AWS S3, Google Cloud) when describing total data stored across their infrastructure.
1 PiB = 1,125,899,906,842,624 B. The pebibyte is the IEC equivalent of the petabyte and is used in scientific computing contexts such as particle physics data archives.
MB (megabyte) is a SI decimal unit equal to 1,000,000 bytes and is used by hard-drive manufacturers, network equipment, and most operating-system marketers. MiB (mebibyte) is an IEC binary unit equal to 1,048,576 bytes and is what Windows, Linux, and macOS actually report for file and partition sizes. The 4.86% difference between them is why a 500 MB file may appear as 476.84 MiB in your file manager.
Drive manufacturers measure capacity in SI decimal gigabytes (1 GB = 1,000,000,000 B), but operating systems display capacity in binary gibibytes (1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 B). A 1 TB drive contains exactly 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, which is only 931.32 GiB — about 6.87 GiB less than a round 1 TiB. The drive is not missing data; it is simply measured differently.
Divide megabits per second (Mbit/s or Mbps) by 8 to get megabytes per second (MB/s). For example, a 100 Mbit/s broadband connection can transfer a maximum of 12.5 MB/s. This is because there are 8 bits in one byte.
A petabyte (PB) equals 1,000 terabytes or 1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. It is the scale at which hyperscale cloud providers, genomics research centres, and national digital libraries talk about total data holdings. For reference, all words ever spoken by humans are estimated at around 5 EB (exabytes), so a petabyte is still enormous by everyday standards.
Bits are the standard unit for data-transfer rates (network speeds, wireless throughput, USB bandwidth). Bytes are the standard unit for stored-data sizes (files, RAM, disk capacity). The rule of thumb: if it flows over a wire or through the air, it is measured in bits per second; if it sits on a device, it is measured in bytes.
Conversion factors follow IEC 80000-13 and the SI Brochure 9th edition. Results are computed in floating-point arithmetic and are accurate to at least 10 significant figures, which is more than sufficient for any practical storage or networking calculation.
This converter is provided for informational and educational purposes. Byte values and storage capacities may be reported differently across operating systems, hardware manufacturers, and network specifications. For exact sizing in professional or production environments, always verify with official documentation.