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Data Storage Converter

Bits • Bytes • KB • MB • GB • TB • PB

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⚡ Quick Conversions — tap one

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How to Use the Data Storage Converter

Enter a value — the number of bytes, KB, MB, GB, etc. you want to convert.
Choose Binary or Decimal mode — Binary (1 KB = 1,024 B) is used by your OS. Decimal (1 KB = 1,000 B) is used by storage manufacturers and internet providers.
Select From/To units — bits, bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB, or PB.
All five tiers shown at once — the results grid shows bytes, KB, MB, GB, and TB simultaneously.
Why the difference matters — a "1 TB" hard drive (decimal) only shows as 931 GB in Windows (binary), causing the common "missing storage" confusion.

Benefits

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Storage Planning

Know exactly how many photos, songs, or movies fit on any drive — with real-world file size context.

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Internet Speed

Convert Mbps (megabits/sec) to MB/s for download speed calculations — bits ≠ bytes!

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OS vs Manufacturer

Understand why your "1 TB" drive shows as 931 GB in Windows — binary vs decimal mismatch explained.

Data Storage Conversion Guide — Bits, Bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB

Data storage conversions confuse people for two reasons: the binary vs decimal distinction, and the fact that bits ≠ bytes. Internet speeds are measured in bits (Mbps = megabits per second) while file sizes are measured in bytes (MB = megabytes). To convert download speed to file transfer rate: divide Mbps by 8 to get MB/s. A 100 Mbps connection downloads files at 12.5 MB/s.

Binary (IEC standard, used by OS): 1 KB = 1,024 bytes. 1 MB = 1,048,576 bytes. 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes. 1 TB = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes. Decimal (SI standard, used by storage manufacturers and telecom): 1 KB = 1,000 bytes. 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes. 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A "1 TB" hard drive (decimal) = 0.909 TB binary = 931 GB as Windows reports it.

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File Size Reference

Photo (JPEG): 3–6 MB. RAW photo: 20–50 MB. Song (MP3): 4–8 MB. Song (FLAC): 25–40 MB. HD movie: 4–8 GB. 4K movie: 50–100 GB. App install: 50–5,000 MB.

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Internet Speeds

100 Mbps → 12.5 MB/s (÷8). 1 Gbps → 125 MB/s. 25 Mbps → 3.1 MB/s. A 2 GB movie at 100 Mbps takes: 2,000 MB ÷ 12.5 MB/s = 160 seconds = 2.7 minutes.

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Storage Capacities

Typical phone: 128–512 GB. Laptop SSD: 256 GB–2 TB. External drive: 1–20 TB. Enterprise NAS: 100 TB+. Cloud free tiers: 5–15 GB. 1 TB holds ≈ 250,000 photos or 500 HD movies.

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RAM vs Storage

RAM is measured in binary: 8 GB RAM = 8,589,934,592 bytes. Storage is decimal: 8 GB SSD = 8,000,000,000 bytes. RAM is 7.4% larger than advertised storage at the same "GB" label. Your OS uses binary for both.

Data Storage FAQ

Why does my 1 TB hard drive show as 931 GB in Windows? ▾

Hard drive manufacturers use decimal (SI) units where 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Windows uses binary (IEC) units where 1 TB = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes. So 1,000,000,000,000 ÷ 1,099,511,627,776 = 0.9095 TB (binary) = 931 GB (binary). This isn't false advertising — it's a unit mismatch. Mac OS X switched to decimal reporting in 2009 to match manufacturers; Windows still uses binary.

What is the difference between Mb and MB? ▾

Case matters: Mb = megabits. MB = megabytes. 1 byte = 8 bits. So 1 MB = 8 Mb. Internet speeds are in megabits (Mbps), file sizes are in megabytes (MB). A 100 Mbps internet plan downloads files at 100 ÷ 8 = 12.5 MB/s. At 12.5 MB/s, a 1 GB file (1,000 MB) downloads in 1,000 ÷ 12.5 = 80 seconds. This confusion is intentional in marketing — internet speeds in Mbps look 8× larger than the equivalent MB/s.

How many GB is 1 TB? ▾

In binary (OS): 1 TB = 1,024 GB = 1,048,576 MB. In decimal (storage manufacturers): 1 TB = 1,000 GB = 1,000,000 MB. This is why Windows shows a 2 TB drive as 1.86 TB (binary) while the box says 2 TB (decimal). For everyday estimates, using 1 TB ≈ 1,000 GB is accurate enough.

How much can 1 GB store? ▾

1 GB can store approximately: 250–333 JPEG photos (at 3–4 MB each), or 125–250 MP3 songs (at 4–8 MB each), or 3,000–4,000 text documents (at 250 KB each), or 2–4 minutes of 4K video (at 300 MB/min), or 10–15 minutes of 1080p HD video (at 60–100 MB/min). 1 GB of data sent over a 100 Mbps connection takes about 80 seconds.