Data Storage Converter — Convert Bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB & More

About the Data Storage Converter

Storage sizes get confusing fast: a "1 TB" hard drive shows up as roughly 931 GiB in your operating system, a download manager reports MB while your file browser shows MiB, and marketing numbers rarely match what you actually see on screen. This tool lets you enter a value once and see it converted to every common storage unit at the same time — both the decimal (1000-based) units used in marketing and storage specs, and the binary (1024-based) units your OS actually uses internally.

How to Use This Tool

Enter the data size value you want to convert.
Select the unit that value is currently in.
The table updates automatically, showing the equivalent value in every other unit.

Conversion Formula

Every storage unit converts through the byte (B), where 1 byte = 8 bits. To convert from unit A to unit B:

value_B = value_A × factor_A→B ÷ factor_B→B

The key distinction in this domain isn't the formula — it's which base a unit uses. Decimal units (KB, MB, GB, TB, PB) scale by powers of 1000, following the SI convention. Binary units (KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB, PiB) scale by powers of 1024, matching how computers actually address memory.

Data Storage Unit Conversion Factors (to Bytes)

Unit	Symbol	Value in Bytes
Bit	bit	0.125
Byte	B	1
Kilobyte	KB	1,000
Megabyte	MB	1,000,000
Gigabyte	GB	1,000,000,000
Terabyte	TB	1,000,000,000,000
Petabyte	PB	1,000,000,000,000,000
Kibibyte	KiB	1,024
Mebibyte	MiB	1,048,576
Gibibyte	GiB	1,073,741,824
Tebibyte	TiB	1,099,511,627,776
Pebibyte	PiB	1,125,899,906,842,624

Note: the binary prefixes (kibi-, mebi-, gibi-...) were standardized by the IEC specifically to disambiguate from the decimal SI prefixes (kilo-, mega-, giga-...), since operating systems and storage manufacturers historically used "KB/MB/GB" to mean two different things.

Worked Examples

Example 1 — Why a "1 TB" Drive Shows Less Space

A drive marketed as 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Your OS reports it in GiB: 1,000,000,000,000 ÷ 1,073,741,824 ≈ 931.32 GiB — the "missing" space is just a different counting base, not lost storage.

Example 2 — MB to KB

A 5 MB file: 5 × 1,000,000 B ÷ 1,000 B/KB = 5,000 KB.

Example 3 — Bytes to Bits

A network speed test showing 100 Mbps is measuring bits, not bytes: 100 Mb ÷ 8 = 12.5 MB/s of actual download speed.

Example 4 — GiB to GB

A game reporting 25 GiB of install size: 25 × 1,073,741,824 B ÷ 1,000,000,000 B/GB ≈ 26.84 GB — worth knowing before comparing it to your drive's marketed capacity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between GB and GiB?

A gigabyte (GB) is 1,000,000,000 bytes (decimal, base 1000). A gibibyte (GiB) is 1,073,741,824 bytes (binary, base 1024) — about 7.4% larger. Storage manufacturers use GB; most operating systems display GiB but often mislabel it "GB" in the interface, which is the source of most storage-size confusion.

Why does my 1 TB hard drive show up as less than 1 TB?

The drive is sized correctly at exactly 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Your operating system just reports that number in GiB instead of GB, and since a GiB holds more bytes than a GB, the same total comes out to a smaller-looking number: about 931 GiB.

How many bits are in a byte?

Exactly 8 bits. This is why internet speeds (measured in bits per second, like Mbps) look 8 times larger than the download speed you actually see in your browser (measured in bytes per second, like MB/s).

Is a kilobyte 1,000 bytes or 1,024 bytes?

Strictly, a kilobyte (KB) is 1,000 bytes and a kibibyte (KiB) is 1,024 bytes — they're different units with different symbols. In casual usage "KB" is often used loosely to mean either, which is exactly the ambiguity the KiB/MiB/GiB naming was introduced to resolve.

How do I convert Mbps internet speed to MB/s download speed?

Divide by 8. A 100 Mbps connection tops out around 12.5 MB/s, because internet speeds are measured in bits per second while file sizes and download managers report bytes per second.