

In most cases bitrate prefixes are used in the decimal sense.ĬONVERSION CALCULATORS Convert between Different Units of Measurement Index of Unit Converters

Terms such as 56K, 56 kb/s, 56Kb/s, 56 kbps, 56 Kbps, 56 kBps, 56 KBps etc. (SI prefix for decimal use only - may cause confusion with old system).ĭata Transfer Rate - bits per second and bytes per second are confusing to those outside the specific industries. Confusion may still exist with use of old and new metric/SI prefixes. New IEC standard should make things clearer. Symbol b for bit and B for byte is used to differentiate, but is still subject to confusion.

Use of "k" for decimal kilo and "K" for binary helps but not with other prefixes like mega (M) and giga (G). The common use of metric/SI prefixes for binary multiples can lead to confusion over whether value is binary or decimal. Instead of Kilobyte (KB) or Gigabyte (GB), the new terms would be kibibyte (KiB) or gibibyte (GiB). Instead of using the metric prefixes for multiples in binary code, the new IEC standard called for specific prefixes for binary multiples made up of only the first two letters of the metric prefixes and adding the first two letters of the word "binary". In December 1998, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) approved a new standard. A big potential for confusion and for incompatibility in standards and in implemented systems exists. No Surprise, some may feel they have been cheated out of 35 GB. So a "500 GB hard drive" may show only 465 GB (500,000,000,000 bytes) on the computer. Not surprisingly leading to confusion, particularly when many storage device manufacturers and telecommunications engineers use the decimal prefixes. one kilogram = 1,000 grams), a binary "Kilo" equals 1,024 (e.g. But although computer data and file size is normally measured using the binary number system (counted by factors of two 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc), the prefixes for the multiples were based on the metric/SI system because computer industry noticed that 2 10 was very nearly equal to 1000 and started using the SI prefix "kilo" to mean 1024! So, although a metric/SI "kilo" equals 1,000 (e.g. The decimal number system in contrast has ten unique digits, zero through nine. The symbol "B" is not international and should not be confused with the symbol "B" for belĬomputers use bits (binary digit), which are composed of ones and zeros. A computer with 8-bit bytes can distinguish 2 8 = 256 different characters. To avoid the risk of confusion ISO/IEC IEC 80000-13:2008 strongly recommends that the name byte and the symbol "B" (capital letter) be used only for 8-bit bytes. However, byte has been used for numbers of bits other than 8. ISO/IEC IEC 80000-13:2008 specifies that the symbol for bit should be "bit", though the letter "b" (in lower case) is still widely used.Ī byte or octet is a unit of memory or data equal to the amount used to represent one character The size of a byte is typically hardware dependent, but the modern de facto standard is 8 bits. These two values are often interpreted as binary digits and are usually denoted by digits 0 and 1. A bit can also be defined as a variable or computed quantity that can have only two possible values. Units of Digital Information in Computing and Telecommunications Definition:Ī bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications it is the amount of information that can be stored by a device and can normally exist in only two distinct states. Sorry, your browser does not support JavaScript, which is needed to run this calculator Data Storage Bit and Byte Unit Conversion Calculator DIGITAL INFORMATIONĬONVERSION CALCULATOR Decimal (SI prefixes)
