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UnitChart

Digital Storage Converter

Convert bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB and bits using the binary (1024) convention that operating systems report.

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Check this before you rely on it. This converter is provided free and without warranty, and its results are not professional advice.

Note. This converter uses the binary convention: 1 KB = 1024 bytes, 1 MB = 1024 KB, 1 GB = 1024 MB. That is what Windows, macOS and Linux report. Storage manufacturers instead use decimal SI units where 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, which is why a “1 TB” drive shows up as about 931 GB.

Popular data storage conversions

MB to GBGB to MBKB to MBGB to TBbytes to KBTB to GB

Data Storage unit reference chart

What one of each unit is worth in bytes, the base unit used for every conversion in this category.

Data Storage units expressed in bytes
UnitSymbol1 unit in B
bitsb0.125 B
bytesB1 B
kilobytesKB1,024 B
megabytesMB1,048,576 B
gigabytesGB1,073,741,824 B
terabytesTB1,099,511,628,000 B
petabytesPB1.125899907e15 B
kilobitskb128 B
megabitsMb131,072 B
gigabitsGb134,217,728 B

Data Storage units explained

Bits (b)

The bit is the smallest unit of digital information — a single binary 0 or 1. Eight bits make one byte.

Bytes (B)

A byte is 8 bits, historically the space needed to store a single text character.

Kilobytes (KB)

A kilobyte is 1,024 bytes under the binary convention used by operating systems. Strictly, 1,024 bytes is a kibibyte (KiB).

Megabytes (MB)

A megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes, or 1,048,576 bytes, under the binary convention.

Gigabytes (GB)

A gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes, or 1,073,741,824 bytes, under the binary convention.

Terabytes (TB)

A terabyte is 1,024 gigabytes under the binary convention. A drive marketed as 1 TB holds 1,000,000,000,000 decimal bytes, which an operating system reports as roughly 931 GB.

Petabytes (PB)

A petabyte is 1,024 terabytes. It is the scale at which data centre storage and large scientific datasets are measured.

Kilobits (kb)

A kilobit is 1,024 bits, which is 128 bytes. Note the lower-case b: a kilobit is one eighth the size of a kilobyte.

Megabits (Mb)

A megabit is 1,024 kilobits, or 131,072 bytes. Connection speeds are quoted in megabits while file sizes are quoted in megabytes, which is why a download runs at about an eighth of the advertised number.

Frequently asked questions

What is the base unit of data storage?

This converter routes every data storage conversion through the byte. Converting from one unit to another means converting to bytes first and then out again, which keeps every pair consistent with every other pair.

How accurate are these data storage conversions?

Results are shown to 10 significant digits using exact defined factors wherever a unit has one. This converter uses the binary convention: 1 KB = 1024 bytes, 1 MB = 1024 KB, 1 GB = 1024 MB. That is what Windows, macOS and Linux report. Storage manufacturers instead use decimal SI units where 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, which is why a “1 TB” drive shows up as about 931 GB.

All data storage conversions

Every data storage conversion page on this site, 80 in total.