Byte Converter
Convert between different units of digital storage.
Binary vs Decimal
| Unit | Binary (2^n) | Decimal (10^n) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| KB | 1,024 B | 1,000 B | 2.4% |
| MB | 1,048,576 B | 1,000,000 B | 4.9% |
| GB | 1,073,741,824 B | 1,000,000,000 B | 7.4% |
| TB | 1,099,511,627,776 B | 1,000,000,000,000 B | 10% |
Binary vs Decimal
There are two standards for measuring digital storage:
- Binary (IEC) - Based on powers of 2. 1 KB = 1024 bytes. Used by operating systems and programming.
- Decimal (SI) - Based on powers of 10. 1 KB = 1000 bytes. Used by storage manufacturers.
Why the Confusion?
Hard drive manufacturers use decimal units, but operating systems use binary units. This is why a "1 TB" hard drive shows as ~931 GB in your OS.
IEC Binary Units
To avoid confusion, IEC introduced unambiguous binary units: KiB (kibibyte), MiB (mebibyte), GiB (gibibyte), etc. These are always based on powers of 2 (1024).