Enter a value and choose the unit to convert from and to. The units cover bits, bytes and the decimal prefixes kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte and terabyte, which use powers of 1,000, and the binary prefixes kibibyte, mebibyte, gibibyte and tebibyte, which use powers of 1,024. Pick the required unit family, since the two differ by about 7% at gigabyte scale and 10% at terabyte scale.
Storage Converter: worked example
| Storage to convert | 1 |
|---|---|
| Starting unit | Gigabytes (GB, decimal) |
| Requested unit | Gibibytes (GiB, binary) |
| Converted value | 0.931 |
| 1 unit of "to" in "from" units | 1.1 |
Storage Converter: formula
Common error: Treating a decimal-versus-binary discrepancy as lost or corrupted data. A drive advertised at a round decimal number showing a smaller binary figure once formatted is an arithmetic convention, not missing capacity, and the same gap appears on every drive from every manufacturer.
Units labeled KB, MB and GB are ambiguous in practice, since some tools use 1,024 and others use 1,000. Formatted capacity is lower than raw capacity because of file system overhead. Bits and bytes are easy to confuse: lowercase b is bits and uppercase B is bytes.
The tool does not account for compression.
Storage Converter: changing Storage to convert
| Storage to convert | Converted value | 1 unit of "to" in "from" units |
|---|---|---|
| 0.8 | 0.745 | 1.1 |
| 0.9 | 0.838 | 1.1 |
| 1 (example) | 0.931 | 1.1 |
| 1.1 | 1 | 1.1 |
| 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
Storage Converter: compare input ranges
| Input | Tested from | To | Converted value: low input | Converted value: high input | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting unit | Bits | Tebibytes (TiB, binary) | 0 | 116.4 | 116.4 (0.1%) |
| Requested unit | Bits | Tebibytes (TiB, binary) | 8,000,000,000 | 0.008 | 8,000,000,000 (858993356800%) |
| Storage to convert | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.838 | 1 | 0.186 (20%) |
Storage Converter: individual input comparisons
| Input | Value | Converted value | 1 unit of "to" in "from" units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage to convert | 0.8 | 0.745 | 1.1 |
| 0.9 | 0.838 | 1.1 | |
| 1 | 0.931 | 1.1 | |
| 1.1 | 1 | 1.1 | |
| 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | |
| Starting unit | Bits | 0 | 8,589,934,592 |
| Bytes | 0 | 1,073,741,824 | |
| Kilobytes (KB, decimal) | 0 | 1,073,741.8 | |
| Kibibytes (KiB, binary) | 0 | 1,048,576 | |
| Megabytes (MB, decimal) | 0.00093 | 1,073.7 | |
| Mebibytes (MiB, binary) | 0.00098 | 1,024 | |
| Gigabytes (GB, decimal) | 0.931 | 1.1 | |
| Gibibytes (GiB, binary) | 1 | 1 | |
| Terabytes (TB, decimal) | 116.4 | 0.00859 | |
| Tebibytes (TiB, binary) | 116.4 | 0.00859 | |
| Requested unit | Bits | 8,000,000,000 | 0 |
| Bytes | 1,000,000,000 | 0 | |
| Kilobytes (KB, decimal) | 1,000,000 | 0 | |
| Kibibytes (KiB, binary) | 976,562.5 | 0 | |
| Megabytes (MB, decimal) | 1,000 | 0.001 | |
| Mebibytes (MiB, binary) | 953.7 | 0.00105 | |
| Gigabytes (GB, decimal) | 1 | 1 | |
| Gibibytes (GiB, binary) | 0.931 | 1.1 | |
| Terabytes (TB, decimal) | 0.008 | 125 | |
| Tebibytes (TiB, binary) | 0.008 | 125 |
Storage Converter: which assumptions move the result?
Storage Converter: values and definitions
| Quantity and definition | Value used |
|---|---|
| Storage to convert | 1 |
| Starting unit — Unit to convert from. | Gigabytes (GB, decimal) |
| Requested unit — Unit to convert to. | Gibibytes (GiB, binary) |
| Converted value | 0.931 |
| 1 unit of "to" in "from" units | 1.1 |
A prefix conversion does not consume storage space
NIST distinguishes the IEC tebi prefix, 2⁴⁰, from the decimal tera prefix, 10¹². An assumed one-terabyte quantity therefore contains 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, or about 0.909495 TiB. One tebibyte contains 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, about 1.099512 TB.
Re-expressing either count in another unit changes the numerical label without removing any bytes. Filesystem structures and reserved space are separate deductions from usable capacity. Prefixes also apply to bits: a kibibit contains 1,024 bits, while a kilobit contains 1,000.
A byte contains eight bits, so dividing a stated bit count by eight must happen before interpreting that count as bytes. Decimal versus binary scaling and bits versus bytes are two independent conversions.
NIST: IEC binary prefixes and SI comparisonsNetworking & Technology calculators: Aspect Ratio Calculator, PPI (Pixels Per Inch) Calculator, Bandwidth and Data Usage Calculator, Subnet Calculator, Password Entropy Calculator, Download Time Calculator.
Decimal prefixes (kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte) are defined as powers of 1,000, the SI convention manufacturers use on packaging, while binary prefixes (kibibyte, mebibyte, gibibyte) are defined as powers of 1,024, the convention most operating systems use when reporting free space: the same physical capacity produces two different numbers depending on which convention is doing the counting.
Note whether the number you're comparing against came from a manufacturer's decimal specification or an operating system's binary report before concluding storage is missing or a file transferred incorrectly.
Estimate a transfer on the download time calculator, monthly data on the bandwidth calculator and network sizes on the subnet calculator. The password entropy page covers security, and the length and volume converters handle other unit families.
What is a gibibyte?
A binary unit equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes, or 1,024 mebibytes, created to distinguish binary counts from decimal gigabytes.
What is the difference between a bit and a byte?
A byte is 8 bits. Speeds are usually quoted in bits and file sizes in bytes.
Why does my 1 TB drive show less space?
One decimal TB is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Dividing by 2³⁰ gives about 931.323 GiB, rather than 931 decimal GB. File-system overhead and reserved space can further reduce usable capacity; check the unit label instead of assuming every operating system displays the same convention.