Bit byte what is

A kilobyte KB is 1, bytes, not one thousand bytes as might be expected, because computers use binary base two math, instead of a decimal base ten system. Computer storage and memory is often measured in megabytes MB and gigabytes GB.

A medium-sized novel contains about 1 MB of information. Similarly, one 1 GB is 1, MB, or 1,,, xx bytes. A petabyte PB is 1, TB. Indiana University is now building storage systems capable of holding petabytes of data. An exabyte EB is 1, PB.

A zettabyte ZB is 1, EB. Finally, a yottabyte YB is 1, ZB. Many hard drive manufacturers use a decimal number system to define amounts of storage space. As a result, 1 MB is defined as one million bytes, 1 GB is defined as one billion bytes, and so on. Since your computer uses a binary system as mentioned above, you may notice a discrepancy between your hard drive's published capacity and the capacity acknowledged by your computer.

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Share on twitter. Share on email. Table of Contents. How to Measure Data To understand the measurements of data, the best place to start is at the bit. Quantifying the Speed of Data The rate that data travels through a network connection is measured in time, so the units used are bits per second bps. Bits and Bytes by the Numbers Every byte consists of eight bits. Most Popular Posts. Subscribe to Our Blog. MSPs vs. IT Consultants. Use our unbiased guide to decide if building an in-house IT team or partnering with an….

Ben Jones. Technical writer Living in Tampa, FL. Originally from Indiana. In my free time, I cook, play golf, stay active either outside or at the gym and patiently waiting for the next Star Wars movie. A byte is an uppercase 'B' and a bit is a lowercase 'b'. If it says MB, all capitals, then it is a megabyte. If it says Mb, then it is a megabit. There is one exception to this, of course, and it is the symbol for kilobit, which is 'kb', all lowercase.

But these file sizes are so small nowadays that you shouldn't really see much of them. It's easy to figure out based on common sense: an uppercase 'B' is physically larger than a lowercase 'b', and a byte is larger than a bit. While there's a range of different file sizes, most of us only need to know a few different prefixes. Here are the most common ones.

A megabyte MB is 1, kilobytes. A gigabyte GB is 1, megabytes. A terabyte TB is 1, gigabytes. A megabit Mb is 1, kilobits. A gigabit Gb is 1, megabits.

A terabit Tb is 1, gigabits. Don't forget!