Digital Storage Converter
A digital storage converter helps you translate between different units of data measurement, from bits and bytes to terabytes and petabytes. As digital files, cloud storage, and data transfers become part of everyday life, understanding these units is essential for making informed decisions about storage devices, internet plans, and file management.
Digital storage units follow a binary system where each step represents a factor of 1,024 (or 1,000 in decimal notation). The distinction between binary (KiB, MiB, GiB) and decimal (KB, MB, GB) prefixes can cause confusion, especially when comparing advertised storage capacity with actual usable space on devices.
How it works
Binary system: 1 byte = 8 bits, 1 KiB = 1,024 bytes, 1 MiB = 1,024 KiB, 1 GiB = 1,024 MiB, 1 TiB = 1,024 GiB. Decimal system: 1 KB = 1,000 bytes, 1 MB = 1,000 KB, 1 GB = 1,000 MB, 1 TB = 1,000 GB.
Use cases
- Comparing cloud storage plans and understanding actual capacity
- Estimating file transfer times based on connection speed
- Planning backup solutions and calculating required disk space
- Understanding bandwidth usage for streaming and downloads
Frequently asked questions
How many megabytes are in a gigabyte?
In the decimal system used by storage manufacturers, 1 GB = 1,000 MB. In the binary system used by operating systems, 1 GiB = 1,024 MiB. The two conventions are the main source of confusion when comparing advertised capacity with what your device reports.
What is the difference between MB and MiB?
A megabyte (MB) is a decimal unit equal to 1,000,000 bytes, while a mebibyte (MiB) is a binary unit equal to 1,048,576 bytes (1,024 × 1,024). The difference is about 4.9% at this scale and grows at larger units — a TiB is nearly 10% bigger than a TB. Binary prefixes (KiB, MiB, GiB) were standardized to remove this ambiguity.
Why does my 1 TB drive show less than 1 TB?
Manufacturers advertise capacity in decimal units, where 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Most operating systems report size in binary units, so the same drive shows as about 931 GiB. No space is missing — the two systems simply divide the same number of bytes by different factors (1,000 vs 1,024).
What is the difference between megabits and megabytes?
One byte equals 8 bits, so a megabyte is 8 times larger than a megabit. Internet speeds are advertised in megabits per second (Mbps), while file sizes use megabytes (MB) — a 100 Mbps connection downloads at most 12.5 MB per second. To estimate download speed in MB/s, divide the connection speed in Mbps by 8.
How many gigabytes are in a terabyte?
In decimal notation, 1 TB = 1,000 GB; in binary notation, 1 TiB = 1,024 GiB. Continuing up the scale, 1 PB (petabyte) = 1,000 TB. The converter shows both conventions so you can compare advertised and reported capacities directly.