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Data Storage Converter

Convert bits and bytes with SI decimal prefixes or IEC binary kibibytes and tebibytes.

About Data Storage Converter

Storage and data-size figures appear in everyday computing, networking, and purchasing decisions — yet the units that describe them are surprisingly inconsistent. Drive manufacturers advertise capacity in decimal units where 1 GB equals exactly one billion bytes, but operating systems display the same drive using binary units where 1 GiB equals 1,073,741,824 bytes. That 7% gap is why a brand-new 1 TB drive shows up as roughly 931 GiB in Windows or macOS. Network speeds add a further layer of confusion: internet connections are sold in megabits per second (Mbps), while file downloads display in megabytes per second (MB/s) — a factor-of-eight difference. This data storage converter handles every common unit from a single bit up to petabytes, covering both decimal (KB, MB, GB, TB, PB) and binary (KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB, PiB) prefixes.

Why use Data Storage Converter

Decimal and Binary Side by Side

KB (1,000 bytes) and KiB (1,024 bytes) look similar but diverge by 7.4%. At the terabyte scale that gap becomes nearly 100 GB. This converter shows both families simultaneously so you always know which figure a vendor or OS is quoting.

Bits and Bytes Conversion

Internet speeds are sold in megabits per second (Mbps); file-transfer progress bars show megabytes per second (MB/s). Divide Mbps by 8 to get MB/s, but this tool does it for you instantly across every prefix level.

Live Multi-unit Output

Enter any value in any unit and every other unit updates without a page reload. Iteration is instant — useful when you need to verify that a quoted capacity will fit within a specific storage tier.

Full Range from Bits to Petabytes

The converter spans from a single bit all the way to petabytes and pebibytes, covering everything from small API responses and individual files to enterprise storage arrays and cloud data lakes.

Real-world Reference Anchors

Contextual examples — a typical MP3 song around 5 MB, a 4K movie between 50 and 100 GB — are shown alongside your results, helping you quickly judge whether a quoted storage figure is reasonable.

Offline, No Account Needed

Every conversion is pure browser-side arithmetic. No data is uploaded, no sign-in is required, and the tool works without a live internet connection once the page has loaded.

How to use Data Storage Converter

  1. Select the source unit from the dropdown, choosing between decimal (KB, MB, GB) and binary (KiB, MiB, GiB) prefixes
  2. Type the numeric value you want to convert into the input field
  3. Read the equivalent values for every other unit, which update in real time
  4. Toggle between bit-based and byte-based views if you are working with network bandwidth
  5. Use the real-world reference examples to sanity-check your figures against familiar file sizes
  6. Click the copy icon next to any result to copy that value to your clipboard

When to use Data Storage Converter

  • When a newly purchased hard drive or SSD shows a smaller capacity than advertised after formatting
  • When calculating the actual download speed you expect from a quoted broadband megabit rating
  • When sizing cloud storage tiers and needing to compare decimal and binary capacities correctly
  • When a developer needs to convert API response sizes or message queue limits across bit and byte units
  • When planning backup storage and reconciling OS-reported sizes with vendor-listed capacities
  • When estimating how many photos, videos, or files will fit on a memory card or USB drive

Examples

GB vs GiB gap

Input: 1 GB (decimal)

Output: 0.9313 GiB · 1,000 MB · 1,000,000,000 bytes

Broadband speed

Input: 100 Mbps

Output: 12.5 MB/s · 100,000,000 bits/s

TiB in decimal

Input: 1 TiB

Output: 1.0995 TB · 1,024 GiB · 1,099,511,627,776 bytes

Tips

  • Hard drives are advertised in decimal (1 TB = 10¹² bytes) but operating systems display binary (TiB), which is why a '1 TB' drive appears as ~931 GiB after formatting
  • Network bandwidth is always in bits per second; file-transfer speed is in bytes per second — divide Mbps by 8 to get the MB/s download rate
  • RAM uses binary units internally, so a '16 GB' stick is technically 16 GiB — powers of two all the way down
  • The decimal/binary gap compounds with scale: 1% at KB, 5% at MB, 7% at GB, 10% at TB
  • Use IEC prefixes (KiB, MiB, GiB) when writing technical documentation or contracts where ambiguity could be costly

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between MB and MiB?▾
MB (megabyte) in the SI/decimal system equals exactly 1,000,000 bytes. MiB (mebibyte) in the IEC binary system equals 1,048,576 bytes (2²⁰). The difference is about 4.9% and grows at higher prefixes, reaching roughly 7% at GB/GiB and nearly 10% at TB/TiB.
Why does my 1 TB drive show as roughly 931 GB in Windows?▾
Drive manufacturers define 1 TB as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes (decimal). Windows and Linux display storage in binary units (GiB) but label them 'GB'. Dividing 10¹² by 2³⁰ gives approximately 931.3 GiB, which is displayed as 931 GB.
What is the difference between Mbps and MB/s?▾
Mbps stands for megabits per second (used for network speeds), while MB/s stands for megabytes per second (used for file-transfer rates). Since one byte contains 8 bits, divide Mbps by 8 to find MB/s. A 100 Mbps connection has a theoretical peak download rate of 12.5 MB/s.
Are GB and GiB interchangeable in everyday use?▾
Informally they are often treated as the same, but they differ by 7.4%. For most casual purposes the distinction is minor, but for storage purchasing, backup planning, or billing by the gigabyte, the gap is large enough to matter and should be verified explicitly.
How many bytes are in a kilobyte?▾
In the decimal (SI) system, 1 KB equals 1,000 bytes. In the binary (IEC) system, 1 KiB equals 1,024 bytes. Most consumer software historically used 1,024, but modern storage and networking standards increasingly use 1,000. Always check which system the source is using.
Why is network speed measured in bits rather than bytes?▾
Network protocols transmit data one bit at a time at the physical layer, so bandwidth is naturally expressed in bits per second. Marketing adopted bits because the numbers look eight times larger than the equivalent byte-per-second figure. The confusion is intentional in some respects.
How big is a petabyte?▾
One petabyte (PB) equals 1,000 terabytes or 10¹⁵ bytes in the decimal system. One pebibyte (PiB) equals 1,024 tebibytes or 2⁵⁰ bytes. To put it in context, the US Library of Congress print collection is estimated at roughly 10 TB — a petabyte is 100 times that.
What unit do RAM and solid-state storage use?▾
RAM is manufactured and addressed in powers of two, so it uses binary units: a 16 GB RAM stick is actually 16 GiB. Consumer SSDs and hard drives use decimal units in marketing but are physically addressed in binary by the OS, causing the apparent size discrepancy.

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Glossary

Bit
The smallest unit of digital information, representing a binary 0 or 1. Network speeds are typically quoted in bits per second (bps, Kbps, Mbps, Gbps).
Byte
A group of 8 bits, the fundamental unit of addressable memory and file size. File sizes and storage capacities are measured in bytes and their multiples.
Kilobyte vs Kibibyte (KB vs KiB)
KB (kilobyte) equals 1,000 bytes in the SI decimal system. KiB (kibibyte) equals 1,024 bytes in the IEC binary system. The 2.4% difference is small but compounds at higher prefixes.
Megabyte vs Mebibyte (MB vs MiB)
MB equals 1,000,000 bytes; MiB equals 1,048,576 bytes. The roughly 4.9% difference means that a file reported as 100 MB by a decimal system is closer to 95.4 MiB in binary.
Gigabyte vs Gibibyte (GB vs GiB)
GB equals 10⁹ bytes; GiB equals 2³⁰ bytes (1,073,741,824). The 7.4% difference is the most commonly encountered source of confusion in consumer storage advertising.
Bit Rate (Mbps vs MB/s)
Mbps (megabits per second) measures network transmission speed. MB/s (megabytes per second) measures data-transfer throughput. Converting between them requires dividing or multiplying by 8.