Byte Converter: Bytes to KB to MB to GB to TB [Calculator]

Convert Bytes to Kilobytes to Megabytes to Gigabytes to Terabytes, and Vice Versa

Insert the desired amount of Bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes or Terabytes you want to convert and then click on the corresponding arrow(s) to see the conversion.

If you need to convert a data unit to something bigger than a Terabyte, we have a new converter that converts data units up to Exabytes. Check it out Here.

Check it out here

Introduction

A few years ago, hard disk spacaibed in terms of ‘Megabytes'. Today, 'Gigabytes' and 'Terabytes’; are the most common terms associated with digital storage. But what are they?

Let’s start with the basics.

What is a Byte?

Bytes are basic and physical unit of information in computing and digital communications!

At the smallest scale in the computer, information is stored as bits and bytes.

In decimal notation, multiples of bytes are expressed in powers of 10.

However, in the computer and information technology fields, multiples are expressed in powers of 2.

Data Measurement Units

Unit

Abbreviation

Decimal Value

Binary Value

Decimal Size

bit

0 or 1

1/8 of a byte

byte

8 bits

1 byte

kilobyte

1001 bytes

1,000 bytes

megabyte

10002 bytes

1,000,000 bytes

gigabyte

10003 bytes

1,000,000,000 bytes

terabyte

10004 bytes

1,000,000,000,000 bytes

petabyte

10005 bytes

1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes

exabyte

10006 bytes

1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes

zettabyte

10007 bytes

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes

yottabyte

10008 bytes

1000* bytes

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes

Understanding Bytes through Real Life Examples

To put things into perspective, each data size is explained here with the help of real-life examples:

Bit

is the smallest unit of data that a computer uses

Single Binary Digit (1 or 0)

Byte

= 8 Bits

1 Byte = 1 Character
10 Bytes = One Word

Kilobyte

= 1,000 Bytes or 1,024 Bytes (despending on the decimal or binary value)

1 Kilobye = A paragraph
100 Kilobytes = A low resolution photograph

Megabyte

= 1,000 Kilobytes

1 Megabyte = A short novel
2 Megabyte = A high resolution photograph
600 Megabytes = A CD-ROM

Gigabyte

= 1,000 Megabytes

1 Gigabyte = 7 minutes of HD-TV video
1 Gigabyte = Contents of about 10 yeards of books on a shelf
600 Gigabytes = A library floor of academic journals

Terabyte

= 1,000 Gigabytes

1 Terabyte = 3.6 million 300 Kilobyte images
1 Terabyte = 300 hours of good quality video
1 Terabyte = 1,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica
10 Terabytes = The printed collection of the entire Library of Congress

Petabyte

= 1,000 Terabytes

1 Petabyte = 20 million 4-door filing cabinets full of text
1 Petabyte = 500 billion pages of standard printed text. It would take about 500 million floppy disks to store the same amount of data
20 Petabytes = The amount of data processed by Google daily

Exabyte

= 1,000 Petabytes

1 Exabyte = 2 million personal computers
5 Exabytes = All the words ever spoken by mankind
15 Exabytes = Total data held by Google

Zettabyte

= 1,000 Exabytes

1 Zettabyte = 250 billion DVDs

Yottabyte

= 1,000 Zettabytes

1 Yottabyte = Size of the entire Word Wide Web. It would take approxiately 11 trillion years to download a Yottabyte file from the Internet using high-power broadband

Brontobyte

= 1,000 Yottabytes

The only thing there is to say about a Brontobyte is that it is a 1 followed by 27 zeros!

Geopbyte

= 1,000 Brontobytes

No on knows why this term was created. It is highly doubtful that anyone alive today will EVER see a Geopbyte hard drive.

How It All Started: A Brief History of Bits & Bytes

1725

It started with the invention of punch cards which used to store information even before computers existed. Punch cards are pieces of paper which encode bits by presence or absence of holes in predefined positions.

1936

Vannevar Bush wrote about "bits of information" that could be stored on the punched cards used in the mechanical computers.

1948

The word “bit” was used for the first time by Claude E. Shan-non in his seminal paper “A Mathematical Theory of Communication.” He credited its origin to John W. Tukey, who had written a Bell Labs memo in 1947 in which he contracted binary digit to simply "bit".

1956

The term byte was coined by Werner Buchholz in during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer.
Earlier, byte was described as a 4-bit or 6-bit chunk of information. Later on, byte was standardized as 8-bit in-formation with the introduction of System 360 by IBM.
A 4-bit information chunk is described as a 'Nibble' now.

References & Further Resources

PortalDesk: Bits + Bytes: A Quick Guide to Data Measurement Units
http://www.portaldesk.net/bits-bytes-a-quick-guide-to-data-measurement-units/
Wikipedia: Byte
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte
TechCrunch: Eric Schmidt: Every 2 Days We Create As Much Information As We Did Up To 2003
https://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/
Cirrus Insight: How Much Data Does Google Store?
https://www.cirrusinsight.com/blog/much-data-google-store
Telegraph: Welcome to the information age – 174 newspapers a day
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/8316534/Welcome-to-the-information-age-174-newspapers-a-day.html
Tech 21 Century: The human brain is loaded daily with 34 GB of information
http://www.tech21century.com/the-human-brain-is-loaded-daily-with-34-gb-of-information/
The Conversation: Not so science fiction after all, the internet could out-evolve humanity
http://theconversation.com/not-so-science-fiction-after-all-the-internet-could-out-evolve-humanity-53162

WhatsaByte may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.

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