Digital Storage Converter
Convert between SI (decimal) and IEC (binary) digital storage units instantly.
All Unit Conversions
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This tool is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional financial, medical, legal, or engineering advice. See Terms of Service.
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Converting between digital storage units is straightforward with this tool:
- Enter a value. Type any number in the input field. Decimals are supported for precise conversions.
- Select your source unit. Choose the unit you are converting from. Units are grouped into Basic (bits, bytes), SI Decimal (KB, MB, GB, TB, PB), and IEC Binary (KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB).
- Select your target unit. Pick the unit you want to convert to. The result updates instantly as you type.
- Use the swap button to quickly reverse the conversion direction.
The conversion table below the main result shows your value in every supported unit at once, making it easy to compare SI and IEC equivalents side by side.
Use the Share button to send a pre-filled link to someone, or Copy to grab the result for pasting elsewhere.
About Digital Storage Units
Digital storage is measured in bits and bytes. One byte equals 8 bits. Larger units use either decimal (SI) or binary (IEC) prefixes. The SI system, defined by the International System of Units, uses multiples of 1,000: a kilobyte (KB) is 1,000 bytes, a megabyte (MB) is 1,000,000 bytes, and so on. The IEC system, standardized in 1998, uses multiples of 1,024: a kibibyte (KiB) is 1,024 bytes, a mebibyte (MiB) is 1,048,576 bytes.
This distinction matters because operating systems like Windows often report file sizes using binary values (1,024-based) but label them with SI prefixes. That is why a "1 TB" hard drive shows roughly 931 GB in your file manager. This converter helps you understand and verify those differences.
All calculations run entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any server.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between KB and KiB?
KB (kilobyte) uses the SI decimal standard where 1 KB = 1,000 bytes. KiB (kibibyte) uses the IEC binary standard where 1 KiB = 1,024 bytes. The same pattern applies to MB vs MiB, GB vs GiB, and TB vs TiB. The difference grows larger at higher magnitudes: 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes while 1 TiB = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, a gap of nearly 10%.
Why does my hard drive show less space than advertised?
Hard drive manufacturers use SI decimal units (1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes), but operating systems like Windows display sizes using binary math (dividing by 1,024 at each level). So a 1 TB drive contains 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, which is approximately 931 GiB when your OS calculates it using powers of 1,024.
How many megabytes are in a gigabyte?
Using SI decimal units, 1 GB = 1,000 MB. Using IEC binary units, 1 GiB = 1,024 MiB. If you are working with file sizes on disk, the binary calculation (1,024) matches what most operating systems display internally, even though they may label it as "GB."
How many bits are in a byte?
One byte always equals 8 bits. This relationship is universal and does not change between SI and IEC systems. Network speeds are typically measured in bits per second (Mbps), while file sizes use bytes (MB), which is why dividing your internet speed by 8 gives you the approximate download rate in bytes per second.