How to Convert KB, MB, GB and Data Units

Distinguish bytes, bits and the unit convention before comparing storage quantities.

Use the Data Size Converter alongside this illustrative example.

A practical example

Under the tool’s binary convention, 1,024 units labelled KB equal one unit labelled MB. A manufacturer may instead use decimal prefixes, where 1,000 bytes is a kilobyte. Separately, eight bits equal one byte: a network speed expressed in megabits is not the same quantity as a file size in megabytes.

Check the result

Record the original unit spelling and convention with the result. For formal documentation, use KiB or MiB for binary quantities and state when the tool’s labels use that convention.

Try a comparison

Convert eight bits to bytes as a separate check: it should be one byte. Then compare a binary storage conversion with a decimal manufacturer figure. Keeping these two questions separate prevents a factor-of-eight error from being mistaken for prefix rounding.

What this does not establish

This conversion does not account for filesystem space, compression or transfer overhead. Do not diagnose missing storage from a prefix difference alone.

Report unclear guidance or a result that needs checking.