KB to MB ratio. What is a kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte? Common use of binary prefixes

Byte(byte) - a unit of storage and processing of digital information. Most often, a byte is considered to be eight bits, in which case it can take one of 256 (2'8) different values. In order to emphasize that an eight-bit byte is meant, the term “octet” (Latin octet) is used in the description of network protocols.

Kilobyte(kB, KB, KB) m., skl. - a unit of measurement of the amount of information, equal to 1000 or 1024 (2’10) standard (8-bit) bytes, depending on the context. Used to indicate the amount of memory in various electronic devices.
1 kilobyte (KB) = 8 kilobits (KB)

Megabyte(MB, M, MB) m., skl. - a unit of measurement of the amount of information equal, depending on the context, to 1,000,000 (10’6) or 1,048,576 (2’20) standard (8-bit) bytes.

Gigabyte(GB, G, GB) - a multiple unit of measurement of the amount of information, equal to 2’30 standard (8-bit) bytes or 1024 megabytes. Used to indicate the amount of memory in various electronic devices.

Terabyte(TB, TB) m., skl. - a unit of measurement of the amount of information equal to 1,099,511,627,776 (2’40) standard (8-bit) bytes or 1024 gigabytes. Used to indicate the amount of memory in various electronic devices.

Petabyte(PByte, PB) m., skl. - a unit of measurement of the amount of information equal to 25’0 standard (8-bit) bytes or 1024 terabytes. Used to indicate the amount of memory in various electronic devices.

Exabyte(Ebyte, E, EB) - a unit of measurement of the amount of information equal to 26’0 standard (8-bit) bytes or 1024 petabytes. Used to indicate the amount of memory in various electronic devices.

Zettabyte(Zbyte, Z, ZB) - a unit of measurement of the amount of information equal to 27’0 standard (8-bit) bytes or 1024 exabytes. Used to indicate the amount of memory in various electronic devices.

Yottabyte(Ybyte, Y, YB) - a unit of measurement of the amount of information equal to 1024 standard (8-bit) bytes or 1000 zettabytes. Used to indicate the amount of memory in various electronic devices.

1 Yottabyte can be represented as:

103 = 1,000 Zettabytes

106 = 1,000,000 Exabytes

109 = 1,000,000,000 Petabytes

1012 = 1,000,000,000,000 Terabytes

1015 = 1,000,000,000,000,000 Gigabytes

1018 = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Megabytes

1021 = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Kilobytes

1024 = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes

Converter of quantities byte, bit, kilobit, kilobyte, megabit, megabyte, gigabit, gigabyte, terabit, terabyte, petabit, petabyte, exbit, exbyte

7.2 terabytes for one the size of a regular DVD disc

Australian researchers have created technology that theoretically allows 7.2 terabytes of data to be written onto a single disc the size of a regular DVD. This was reported by Nature News, and the researchers' article appeared in the journal Nature.

In modern DVD drives, information is recorded using a laser beam that burns indentations on the surface of the disc. The new technology works in a similar way. The main difference is that instead of creating indentations on the surface of the disk, gold nanopins melt.

Scientists were able to achieve such a high density of information recording using several technical techniques. First, the researchers used lasers of multiple colors. The fact is that rays of a certain wavelength affect only pins with a certain ratio of length and thickness. Second, the researchers used beams with different polarizations that hit pins oriented in a specific way.

Using rays of different colors and different polarizations, it seems possible to record information on the same region of the disk several times. For example, two polarizations and three colors (for a total of six possible combinations) can store 1.6 terabytes of data on a DVD-sized disc. If you add another polarization option, you get a 7.2 terabyte drive.

To read the information, the researchers use a weak laser beam that does not melt the nanopins. In this case, the output produces a readable signal: it has been empirically established that nanopins “respond” to a weak laser much better than, for example, spherical nanoparticles into which the pins turn after melting.

The weakness of the new technology is that researchers use laser pulses of very short duration - on the order of several femtoseconds. Such lasers are expensive and difficult to manufacture. Scientists hope that further development of technology will overcome this limitation. They expect industrial use of their discovery to begin around the 2020s. ♌

Catching Goldfish on the Internet

If you are wondering how many megabytes are in one gigabyte, check out the table below. Next, we will discuss how these units of measurement are formed, and by what principle the conversion should be made.

Information is data in various forms that can be perceived by people or special devices as a reflection of the material world that arises in the process of communication. For many it will be strange that information can be measured. Indeed, this is so, and let’s try to figure out how bits differ from bytes and what’s what.

The first thing that needs to be said is that most people use the decimal number system, which has been familiar since school. But in the case of information, a binary system will be used, which is presented in the form of 0 and 1. Most often, this mechanism is used specifically in working with computer equipment, as a rule, we are talking about the volume of hard drives or RAM.

Why is the actual and declared capacity of hard drives different?

Many hard drive manufacturers often use this confusion. The declared capacity of the hard drive that the user purchased is, say, 500 gigabytes. But in fact, when it has already been installed and prepared for work, it turns out that its total volume fluctuates in the range of 450-460 gigabytes.

And the whole trick is that, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, the amount of RAM, like all its other types, uses a binary calculation system. And manufacturers use decimal. This gives them the opportunity to allegedly “increase” memory by about 10 percent. Although in fact, buyers are simply misled.

Let's talk about number systems

The smallest unit of information will be a bit, which represents the amount of information contained in a message, halving the uncertainty of knowledge about any subject. It is followed by a byte, which is considered the basic unit of measurement. By the way, it should be noted here that the speed of information transfer is measured in bits. We are talking about kilobits, megabits and so on. By the way, many people confuse megabits and megabytes. Contrary to popular belief, these are completely different concepts and meanings. Speed ​​will be measured in bits transferred per second, but not in bytes.

The binary number system, as mentioned above, is presented in the form of zeros and ones. A piece of information is a bit and can take the value either zero or one and nothing else. This is exactly what the beat will be. A byte, again, as mentioned, will consist of eight bits, if we talk specifically about the binary number system. Moreover, each will be written as 2 to a certain degree from 0 to 7. If you try to show it more simply, it will look like: 11101001.

This is a clear example of 256 combinations, which are encoded in a byte. But this is difficult for users, because they are used to seeing everything through the prism of the decimal system. So let's translate this, which requires simply adding all the powers of two where we have ones. To do this, we need to take 2 to the power of 0 + 2 to the power of 3 + 2 to the power of 5 + 2 to the power of 6 + 2 to the power of 7.

Another important point is the nibble or nibble as it is called. This is half a byte, that is, 4 bits. As a rule, any number from 0 to 15 can be encoded in it.

Inconsistencies in bits and bytes

As mentioned above, the information transfer rate is measured in bits. But recently, even in well-known programs, measurements are carried out in bytes. Although this is not entirely true, it is still possible. The translation in this case will be quite simple:

• 1 byte = 8 bits;
• 1 kilobyte = 8 kilobits;
• 1 megabyte = 8 megabits.

If the user needs to make a reverse translation, then they simply need to divide the required number by 8.

Another problem will be that the byte system itself has a number of inconsistencies that cause users problems with conversions to mega, giga, terabytes, and so on. The point here is that from the very beginning, in order to denote units of information that are larger than bytes, terms that relate to the decimal system rather than the binary system are used. For example, the prefix “tera” means multiplying by 10 to the 12th power, giga by 10 to the 9, mega by 10 to the 6, and so on.

It is for this reason that confusion arises. It would be logical to assume that 1 kilobyte is equal to 1000 bytes, but this is not the case. It will have 1024 bytes.

In general, as you can see, there are certain difficulties, but if you understand them, it will quickly become clear that there is nothing difficult about this.

Greetings to all readers of my blog. Does each of you know in what units information is measured? Many of you are probably already familiar with the concepts of bit and byte. At least you've heard of them. Each user also constantly encounters such units of information as megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes. Despite their popularity, not all of you clearly understand how to convert one quantity to another.

The recalculation process has its own nuances. It is because of them that users have difficulties. The problem is that most people use the decimal number system, to which everyone has long been accustomed. For example, if a unit of measurement has the prefix “kilo,” then the value must simply be multiplied by one thousand. However, information that is transmitted or stored digitally is measured using binary system quantities. In this regard, to find out how many KB are in a MB, it is not enough to simply multiply by 1000. This feature needs to be dealt with in more detail, which will be done later in the article.

What is a bit/byte?

Today it is no longer possible to surprise anyone with computers. This technique uses units of measurement of information, which will be described below. They are used to indicate the volume of both the hard drive (HDD and SSD) and random access memory (RAM).

A bit is the smallest unit. It is denoted by a small letter "b". It is followed by a byte. It is already designated by the capital letter “B”. In computer terminology, bits are used much less frequently as a unit of measurement of information compared to bytes, after which derivatives of this value are located. These are kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and so on. The well-known prefixes for the word “byte” do not allow for easy conversion of the value by multiplying the value by 10 to the appropriate power. This rule does not apply to converting units of measurement of information. The reason why it cannot be used for this translation will be discussed below.

Similar quantities are also used when measuring the speed of transmitted information. Today, the Internet is most often used for these purposes. The information transmitted through such a channel is measured in kilobits, megabits, and so on. Due to the fact that speed is indicated using these values, it is bits per second that are counted. In other words, how many of them are transmitted per unit of time. Therefore, every user has a question regarding the number of bits contained in 1 byte, as well as how to correctly convert KB to KB.

Computer technology uses exclusively the values ​​of the binary system to function. To put it another way, then we can say that digital devices only work with numbers: 0 and 1. The first acquaintance with such a system occurs at school. From a computer science course, students learn that a bit is taken as a unit. It represents 1 digit of information. In this case, a bit can only be equal to zero or one. In other words, the signal may or may not be present.

At the same time, a byte has a more complex concept. One such value in the binary system consists of 8 bits. Moreover, 1 Bit is a two to a certain power, which can be equal to from 0 to 7. If we take into account all possible combinations of ones and zeros, then it becomes clear that their maximum value is 256. This is the largest value. It is equal to the maximum amount of information that can be encoded in 1 byte.

Important! To convert a number from the binary system to the usual one, i.e. decimal, you need to add all twos, each of which has its own degree. However, they need to be taken only in those bits where there is a signal, which is possible if the measurement value is equal to one.

It is worth knowing that one byte is divided into two parts, each of which consists of 4 bits. These are nibbles. Each of them is also called a nibble. One nibble allows you to encode any 16-tera number. This process is carried out using 4 bits. In other words, you can encode numbers 0-15.

Convert MB to MB

To better understand the material presented, it is necessary to clearly understand that Internet speed is often measured in KB, MB and GB. At the same time, special software measures the speed of the Internet channel in KB and MB. Many users use Speedtest for these purposes. Therefore, you have to understand how many bits are in a MB. Although there is nothing complicated in this translation. So, 1 byte contains 8 bits. This allows you to count the number of KB in 1 KB - there will be 8 of them. Therefore, 1 MB is equal to 8 MB. Gigabits or other similar quantities are calculated in the same way. If you need to convert in the opposite direction, then divide the unit of measurement by 8.

Now it becomes clear that 1 MB of the Internet is the amount of specific information transmitted through the channel, which is perceived by the user. It is equal to 1024 kilobytes. This volume is enough to open a certain number of pages, depending on the device used, since in mobile versions they weigh a little less compared to computer versions. So, if you need to spend 100 KB on one page, then a package of 1 MB of traffic will allow you to open no more than 10 of them.

How many bytes are in one MB and GB?

The vast majority of users know that the presence of the prefix “kilo” means the need to multiply a number by 10 to the third power. In other words, the increase occurs by a factor of a thousand. If the prefix “mega” is used, then the multiplication is performed by 10 to the 6th power. For example, one turns into 1000000. When the prefix “giga” is used, then in this case the number is multiplied by 10 9.

However, when considering the question of how many bytes are in a MB, it is necessary to take into account that the above rules cannot be used to convert units of measurement, since the values ​​​​relate exclusively to the binary system, and a different method of calculation is applied to it. The calculations are based not on 10 to a certain extent, but on 2. In other words, the prefixes kibi, mebi, etc. are used instead of kilo, mega, etc.

To designate the units by which information larger than a byte is measured, computer science uses kibibytes, mebibytes, gibibytes, and so on. However, it so happens that the overwhelming majority of Russian-speaking users use “incorrect” prefixes like kilo, mega, etc. Moreover, the correct names in Russian sound a little funny. This especially applies to Yobibyte. Therefore, everyone needs to understand that today the incorrect names of units are almost always used to indicate the amount of information.

User confusion arises precisely because of the nuances described above. Many people believe that a kilobyte is equal to a thousand bytes. However, this statement is incorrect, since 1 KB is 1024 bytes. In other words, you need to raise two to the tenth power. Only this statement is true. Based on this, you can easily calculate, for example:

• how many bytes are in 1 MB - 1048576 bytes (two raised to the twentieth power or 1024 multiplied by 1024);
• how many bytes are in 1 GB - 107374824 bytes (two is raised to the 30th power or 1024 is multiplied by itself three times);
• how many MB are in 1 GB - 1024 megabytes;
• how many GB are in 1 TB - 1024 gigabytes.

So, how do you know how many MB you get from a certain number of bytes? To obtain an accurate result, it is necessary to divide the original number of units by two raised to the twentieth power. Here you need to clearly understand that division is not carried out by 1,000,000, as is customary in the decimal system, but by 1,048,576. This number is slightly more than a million. It is because of this important nuance that the correct result will be less than originally expected.

So that you, dear readers of my blog, can more quickly convert a certain unit into bytes, I will give them in ascending order of degree. These are the ones that need to be used to construct two: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. These values ​​correspond to bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes.

Why does a terabyte drive hold 900 GB?

Hard drive manufacturers skillfully take advantage of the low awareness of some users. Thus, almost every buyer of a new HDD, after formatting, discovered that instead of the promised 1 TB, the system showed a little more than 900 GB of free space on the drive. As a result, many users are beginning to wonder where almost 10% of their hard drive space disappears.

The secret lies in the fact that HDD manufacturers use the decimal system rather than binary when measuring disk capacity. In other words, when calculating they take 1 kilobyte per thousand bytes. The resulting difference is 24 units of information. If we take into account the sufficiently large volume of the hard drive, then the manufacturer wins, since the difference increases by tens of gigabytes.

If each HDD manufacturer used the correct calculation of disk capacity, then 1 GB would be equal to 107374824 bytes. When converting to a terabyte, you need to multiply this value by 1024. As a result, a terabyte disk would hold 109951819776 bytes.

Now you know how manufacturers determine the memory capacity of released devices. They use a very simple trick to always win. At the same time, consumers purchase a product whose usefulness is 10% less.

As you know, a computer operates with information, but obviously not in the same way as we do. How and how to measure this information? What is information? Let's find out! For those who need to translate bits, bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, I have made a convenient “counter” that you can download at the end of the article.

Information- this is everything that you could see, hear or read. Volumes of information are constantly growing, and every day faster and faster, so the problem of storing and systematizing it arises, so that later you can easily find something. Humanity has evolved from rock records and parchment to digital storage media, but understanding storage devices is becoming increasingly difficult.

It has been mentioned more than once that the computer processes information using , that it is transmitted from device to device in the system unit using cables. You also already know that there are, for example, input devices (keyboard and mouse, for example), with the help of which we can give commands to the computer, which means they also transmit some information. To do this, they connect to . We have already learned how to connect some devices. And finally, the processed information is used by us. For example, it returns to us through output devices, an example of which is the image on the monitor. We are all accustomed to information, such as letters in a book, our entries in a diary. Everything is simple here: information is stored in a book in the form of text, and the book is on a shelf in the library. And as you may have already read, information on a computer is stored on storage media. Here, for example, is a hard drive (read about it) in the system unit (it’s in the photo)

We can only read what is on the sticker, and even then the meaning of most of the inscriptions is unclear. However, this small piece of hardware, which can be put in your pocket, can store millions of books and documents, thousands of images, audio and video recordings. How? The fact is that a computer is a machine, current flows through the wires, and the computer cannot perceive the same book or the world around us as we do. But it can perfectly determine whether there is a signal or not, or whether the voltage is low or high, respectively. Thus, the computer can perceive information about the presence or absence of a signal as “yes” or “no” or, in digital equivalent, 0 or 1. Thus, we have a simple system of zero and one, which is called binary, since there are only two numbers. One digit (0 or 1) is called a bit is the smallest unit of computer information. Her computer can store and transmit. However, this is very little; how can we store, for example, words?

What is a byte? How many bits are in a byte?

You've probably heard of Morse code, where combinations of long and short signals (dots and dashes) are decoded into words. And if we take a combination of 8 numbers, each of which can be one or zero, we get 256 combinations, which is enough to display both numbers and letters, and more than one alphabet. And these 8 bits are called a byte. Thus there are 8 bits in a byte. You don’t have to keep this in your head or learn it by heart; you can work on a computer without such knowledge, but you still have to estimate the size of the information. Measuring information in bits and even bytes is difficult, because the volume of information is much larger.

What are kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes? How to convert kilobytes to megabytes and gigabytes to megabytes.

In the decimal system, we use prefixes to indicate a large number. For example: the prefix kilo- means that the specified number must be multiplied by a thousand. 1 kilogram = 1000 grams. But a kilobyte is not a thousand bytes, and 2 to the power of 10, that is, 1024 bytes, which is not entirely correct. It’s a little difficult to get used to at first, there’s even this joke:

— What is the difference between a programmer and an ordinary person?

— A programmer thinks that a kilogram of sausage is 1024 grams, and an ordinary person thinks that a kilobyte is 1000 bytes.

The prefix mega means a million, but megabyte is again 1024 kilobytes or 1048576 bytes. As you can see, a megabyte is larger than a kilobyte. A gigabyte is 1024 megabytes= 1048576 kilobytes = 1073741824 bytes. A terabyte is 1024 gigabytes respectively.

Here are the most common units for measuring the amount of information. To convert kilobytes to megabytes, you need to divide them by 1024, and in order convert gigabytes to megabytes you need to multiply them by 1024. It was proposed to use “bi” for binary prefixes to eliminate confusion, but kibibyte and mebibyte do not sound very pleasant and unusual, so they have not yet taken root.

To understand what a familiar thing in electronic form will look like (in terms of volume), I will give approximate figures:

• Contents of printed A4 sheet - 100 kilobytes

• 1.5 hours of film in low (for modern standards) quality - 1.5 gigabytes. In high there can be 40 gigabytes.

• Medium quality photo - 1-1.5 megabytes

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Do you want to know, how much is 1 GB, megabyte and kilobyte, then read this article, where you will get comprehensive answers to this question.

What is larger: kilobyte or megabyte?

I think that most of those who use the Internet know that all the information that is posted in this virtual space (texts, pictures, videos, sounds, etc.) is presented as a set of numbers.

And this whole set of numbers can be measured, and now I will show you how to do it. After this, you can convert bytes to bits, bits to kilobytes, kilobytes to kilobits, kilobits to megabytes, megabytes to megabits, megabits to gigabytes to gigabits, gigabyte to terabyte, tarabyte to tarabit.

So, if you need to know how much is contained in 1 GB or 1 MB KB, then now, I will tell you about it in detail. I don’t know why you will need this if you are not a programmer (although they don’t really need such information), but nevertheless, I’ll tell you about it now, because I recently thought about this question and decided to write an entire article. At least this will help estimate the size of the downloaded information and more.

There is nothing complicated here; it is enough to know some rules and have a calculator at hand.

1. 1 byte is 8 bits
2. 1 kb is 1024 bytes
3. 1 MB is 1024 kilobytes
4. 1 GB is 1024 megabytes
5. 1 terabyte is 1024 gigabytes

Abbreviations that are considered generally accepted:

1. kilobyte - kb
2. megabyte - mb
3. giga-byte - GB

You should also know that in the world of information only the binary measurement system is used, and not the decimal one to which we are accustomed. That is, a number can take a value not from 0 to 10, but from 0 to 1.

That is, the simplest digit for measuring information is 1 bit, the value of which can be 0 or 1.
And due to the fact that such an insignificant value is very small for measuring the size (volume) of information, it is almost not used, but a byte is used, where 1 byte is equal to 18 bits. And it can take values ​​from 0 to 15 (hexadecimal number system), only instead of numerical indicators 10-15 the letters from A to F are used. These volumes of information measurements are also not particularly large, so the familiar prefixes kilo (1000), mega (1,000,000), giga (1,000,000,000).

Also, I want to add that in the information space, a kilobyte = not 1,000 bytes, but 1024. And if you want to find out how many kilobytes are in a megabyte, then you will also get the number 1024. And when you ask the question: “so how many megabytes are in a gigabyte” ? you will hear the same answer - 1024.

This “metamorphosis” is determined by the peculiarity of the binary calculation system. That is, when using tens, we will obtain each new digit by multiplying by 10 (1, 10, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000, etc.), then with the binary method of calculus, a new digit appears after that how to perform the operation of multiplying by 2.
An example of how it all looks: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024
That is, a number consisting of 10 digits in the binary system can only have 1024 values. This is more than 1,000, but is closest to the kilo- prefix. Exactly the same calculation scheme is used: mega.., giga.. and tera...