What is the difference between SI and binary units?

SI (decimal) uses powers of 1000: 1 KB = 1,000 bytes. Binary (IEC) uses powers of 1024: 1 KiB = 1,024 bytes. Hard drives typically use SI, while RAM uses binary.

How many bytes in a gigabyte?

In SI: 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes (10^9). In binary: 1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 bytes (2^30).

Why is my hard drive smaller than advertised?

Hard drive manufacturers use SI units (1 GB = 1 billion bytes), while operating systems often display in binary units (GiB), making the apparent size about 7% smaller.

What units are supported?

We support bit, byte, kilobyte (KB/KiB), megabyte (MB/MiB), gigabyte (GB/GiB), terabyte (TB/TiB), and petabyte (PB/PiB).

How many megabytes in a gigabyte?

In SI: 1 GB = 1,000 MB. In binary: 1 GiB = 1,024 MiB.

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Data Storage Converter

Convert between bits, bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB, and PB with SI/Binary toggle

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From

Decimal Places:

All Conversions

Bit

8000000

Byte

1000000

Kilobyte

1000

Megabyte

Gigabyte

0.001

Terabyte

0.000001

Petabyte

How It Works

Choose Standard

Select SI (decimal) or Binary (IEC) mode

Enter Value

Type the data storage value to convert

See Conversions

All unit conversions are displayed instantly

Frequently Asked Questions

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Last updated: Feb 27, 2026