Data Storage Converter
Free Data storage Calculator for conversions & measurement. Enter values to get step-by-step solutions with formulas and graphs.
Data Storage Converter
Calculator
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Formula: 1 KB = 1024 B | 1 MB = 1024 KB | 1 GB = 1024 MB | 1 TB = 1024 GB
Worked example — 5 GB = 5,120 MB = 5,242,880 KB
Formula
1 KB = 1024 B | 1 MB = 1024 KB | 1 GB = 1024 MB | 1 TB = 1024 GB
Binary prefixes use powers of 1024 (2¹⁰), the convention used by operating systems and file managers. Each step multiplies or divides by 1024. Manufacturers and cloud providers instead use decimal (1000-based) prefixes, which is why advertised and displayed capacities differ by roughly 7 percent at the gigabyte scale and more at larger scales.
Worked Examples
Example 1: Photo Library Backup
Problem:A photo library is 5 GB (binary). Convert this to MB and KB to estimate cloud upload requirements.
Solution:MB = 5 GB x 1024 MB/GB = 5,120 MB KB = 5,120 MB x 1024 KB/MB = 5,242,880 KB Bytes = 5,242,880 KB x 1024 = 5,368,709,120 bytes
Result:5 GB = 5,120 MB = 5,242,880 KB
Example 2: Video File Download Time
Problem:A video file is 2.5 GB. On a connection that transfers 12.5 MB/s (100 Mbps), how long will it take to download?
Solution:File size in MB = 2.5 GB x 1024 = 2,560 MB Time = 2,560 MB / 12.5 MB/s = 204.8 seconds 204.8 / 60 = approximately 3.41 minutes
Result:2.5 GB at 100 Mbps takes approximately 3.4 minutes
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between KB and KiB?
KB traditionally means 1024 bytes in computing (binary). SI standard defines kB as 1000 bytes and KiB as 1024 bytes.
Why do hard drives show less storage than advertised?
Hard drive manufacturers use SI (decimal) units where 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, while operating systems use binary units where 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes. A 1 TB hard drive sold by a manufacturer contains 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, but Windows shows it as approximately 931 GB because Windows uses binary calculation. This 7% difference grows larger at higher capacities — a 4 TB drive shows as about 3.64 TB in Windows. This discrepancy is legal because there is no single agreed-upon definition of GB in consumer products.
How much storage do common file types require?
Approximate file sizes for common content: a 3-minute MP3 song at 320 kbps is about 7 MB; a standard JPEG photo from a smartphone is 3-8 MB; a 4K video at 30fps encoded in H.265 is about 10-15 GB per hour; a typical HD movie in 1080p is 4-8 GB; a full Microsoft Office installation uses about 4 GB; a modern AAA video game requires 50-150 GB; an uncompressed RAW photo from a 24-megapixel camera is about 25 MB; and a PDF document is typically 100 KB to 5 MB depending on embedded images and content complexity.
What is the difference between storage speed units: MB/s vs Mbps?
MB/s (megabytes per second) and Mbps (megabits per second) are both used to measure data transfer speed, but they differ by a factor of 8 because there are 8 bits in a byte. A 100 Mbps internet connection transfers data at about 12.5 MB/s, which means downloading a 1 GB file takes about 80 seconds. Internet service providers commonly advertise in Mbps, while file transfers and storage devices are typically measured in MB/s. When comparing download speeds, divide the advertised Mbps by 8 to get MB/s download speed. SSD speeds are often quoted in MB/s (e.g., 550 MB/s for SATA SSDs and 7,000 MB/s for high-end NVMe SSDs).
How many photos, songs, or hours of video fit on a given storage size?
Rough capacity estimates help translate abstract gigabytes into practical terms: a 64 GB phone can hold roughly 20,000-25,000 smartphone photos, or about 10,000 songs at typical MP3 compression, or around 30-40 hours of 1080p video. A 1 TB drive can store approximately 250,000-300,000 photos, 200,000 songs, or 100-150 hours of 4K video depending on codec and bitrate. These are estimates only since actual file sizes vary significantly with resolution, compression settings, and content complexity.
How should I plan storage for cloud backups versus local drives?
Cloud storage providers almost universally bill in decimal (1000-based) GB and TB to match how the underlying hard drives are marketed, while the file explorer on your computer reports the same files in binary (1024-based) units, showing a slightly smaller number for identical data. When estimating whether a backup will fit within a cloud storage tier or a physical drive, use the decimal figure quoted by the provider or manufacturer, then expect your operating system to display roughly 7 percent less once the data is actually stored, particularly at the terabyte scale.
How do bits and bytes relate, and why does the capital B matter?
A byte is 8 bits, the smallest unit that conventionally stores a single character in older encodings. Notation carries the distinction: an upper case B means bytes and a lower case b means bits, so MB is megabytes and Mb is megabits. Since storage is sold in bytes while network throughput is quoted in bits per second, moving between the two always involves a factor of 8, and dropping it is the single most common mistake in transfer time estimates.
What is the difference between a terabyte and a tebibyte?
A terabyte in decimal notation is 10 to the twelfth power bytes, or 1,000,000,000,000. A tebibyte is the binary unit, 2 to the fortieth power bytes, or 1,099,511,627,776. The tebibyte is therefore about 9.95 percent larger, and that gap widens at each prefix step: roughly 2.4 percent at the kibibyte, 4.9 percent at the mebibyte and 7.4 percent at the gibibyte. A 1 TB drive shows as about 0.91 TiB when an operating system reports binary units.
How do I estimate how long a file will take to transfer over a known connection?
Convert the file size into bits, then divide by the connection rate in bits per second. A 10 GB file is 10,000 MB in decimal terms, which multiplied by 8 gives 80,000 megabits, and dividing by a 100 Mbps link gives 800 seconds, or 13 minutes 20 seconds. Real transfers run slower than this floor because protocol overhead, latency, disk speed and shared contention all reduce the throughput actually achieved.
Why does usable capacity fall short of raw capacity on a formatted or RAID volume?
Several layers each take a cut. The filesystem reserves space for metadata structures such as inode tables, journals and allocation maps, and some filesystems hold back a percentage for the root user or for fragmentation headroom. Redundant RAID levels consume more: mirroring halves usable capacity, and single or double parity gives up the equivalent of one or two member drives. Add the decimal to binary reporting gap on top and the figure the operating system displays can sit well below the number printed on the box.
References
Reviewed for accuracy by Manoj Kumar, Mathematics Educator · Editorial policy
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