Unit conversion
Data Storage Converter
Converts data sizes, where decimal and binary prefixes differ and the gap grows.
Result
Decimal units (KB, MB, GB) use powers of 1000; binary units (KiB, MiB, GiB) use powers of 1024. Drive manufacturers use decimal, operating systems often report binary, which is why a 500 GB drive shows as about 465 GiB.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Decimal prefixes use powers of a thousand, so a gigabyte is a billion bytes; binary prefixes use powers of 1,024, so a gibibyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes, about 7.4 per cent larger. The gap widens at each step: a tebibyte is about 10 per cent larger than a terabyte.
What moves the number
- Whether the prefix is decimal or binary.
- Which convention the source used.
- Bits against bytes, which differ by a factor of eight.
- Formatted against raw capacity.
Where this one goes wrong
Storage manufacturers use decimal prefixes while many operating systems report binary ones, which is why a drive sold as one terabyte shows as roughly 931 gibibytes and nothing is missing, and the gap grows at each larger step. Know which convention is in use. Bits and bytes are the other confusion, since network speeds are quoted in bits per second and file sizes in bytes, a factor of eight that makes a download appear eight times slower than the connection suggests.
Before you quote
- Establish whether the prefix is decimal or binary.
- Distinguish bits from bytes, especially in network speeds.
- Expect formatted capacity to be below raw capacity.
Questions
About this calculator
Why does my drive show less than advertised?
Because manufacturers use decimal prefixes and many systems report binary ones. A drive sold as a terabyte shows as roughly 931 gibibytes, and nothing is missing. The gap grows at each larger step: about 7.4 per cent at giga and 10 at tera.
Why is my download slower than my connection?
Network speeds are quoted in bits per second and file sizes in bytes, a factor of eight. A connection rated in megabits delivers one eighth that many megabytes per second at best, before any protocol overhead.
What are gibibytes?
The binary prefix unit: 1,073,741,824 bytes against a gigabyte's billion. The binary prefixes exist precisely to remove this ambiguity, and software that uses them is being unambiguous rather than unfamiliar.
Common data storage conversions
| From | Equals |
|---|---|
| 1 Gigabytes (1000³) | 1,000,000,000 Bytes |
| 1 Gigabytes (1000³) | 8,000,000,000 Bits |
| 1 Gigabytes (1000³) | 1,000,000 Kilobytes (1000) |
| 1 Gigabytes (1000³) | 976,562.5 Kibibytes (1024) |
| 1 Gigabytes (1000³) | 1,000 Megabytes (1000²) |
| 1 Gigabytes (1000³) | 953.674316 Mebibytes (1024²) |
| 1 Gigabytes (1000³) | 1 Gigabytes (1000³) |
| 1 Gigabytes (1000³) | 0.931323 Gibibytes (1024³) |
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How to use this calculator
- Value. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 500.
- From. Enter your own figure; the page starts at Gigabytes (1000³).
- To. Enter your own figure; the page starts at Gibibytes (1024³).
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to converted value, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Value | 500 |
| From | Gigabytes (1000³) |
| To | Gibibytes (1024³) |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Converted value main result | 465.6613 |
| Conversion factor | 0.931323 |
500 Gigabytes (1000³) equals 465.6613 Gibibytes (1024³).
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only value, this is what happens to converted value. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Value | Converted value |
|---|---|
| 250 | 232.8306 |
| 375 | 349.246 |
| 500 example above | 465.6613 |
| 750 | 698.4919 |
| 1,000 | 931.3226 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Value
- A number, starting at 500.
- From
- Choose from Bytes, Bits, Kilobytes (1000), Kibibytes (1024), Megabytes (1000²), Mebibytes (1024²), Gigabytes (1000³), Gibibytes (1024³), Terabytes, Tebibytes.
- To
- Choose from Bytes, Bits, Kilobytes (1000), Kibibytes (1024), Megabytes (1000²), Mebibytes (1024²), Gigabytes (1000³), Gibibytes (1024³), Terabytes, Tebibytes.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Converted value | The headline result. A number. |
| Conversion factor | A number. |
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