What is a Data Storage Converter?
The data storage converter switches between bits, bytes, KB, MB, GB, and TB.
How it's calculated
1 byte = 8 bits
Decimal: 1 KB = 1,000 bytes / Binary: 1 KiB = 1,024 bytes
Units that are easy to mix up
| Units | Why it's confusing | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|---|
| Mb vs MB | One letter case makes 8x difference | Lowercase b = bits, uppercase B = bytes |
| KB (1,000) vs KiB (1,024) | Manufacturers vs OS use different bases | Storage devices count in 1,000s, operating systems count in 1,024s |
Why does a 1TB drive show up as 931GB?
It's not a scam — it's a difference in counting convention. Manufacturers use decimal (1TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes), while operating systems use binary (based on 1,024). The gap is about 7–9%, which is exactly why a 1TB drive shows as 931GB in your file explorer. The KiB/MiB/GiB notation was created by the IEC specifically to resolve this ambiguity, though it never became widely adopted in everyday use.
Good to know
- Internet speed is measured in bits, file size in bytes. A '100 Mbps' connection downloads at roughly 12.5 MB/s — divide by 8 to convert.
- Lowercase 'b' means bits, uppercase 'B' means bytes — a single letter case difference that changes the value by 8x.
- 8 bits per byte isn't a law of nature — early computers used 6-bit and 7-bit bytes. 8 bits (256 possible values) became standard partly because it comfortably covers the English alphabet and is a convenient power of 2.
- Text encoding matters too — many non-Latin scripts require multiple bytes per character in UTF-8, while English letters need only 1, which is why documents in some languages are larger for the same character count.
- Global annual data generation has already entered the zettabyte range.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Why does a 1TB drive show as 931GB?
Manufacturers count in units of 1,000, operating systems count in units of 1,024. Storage capacity isn't actually missing.
Q. How many MB per second at 100 Mbps?
Theoretically about 12.5 MB/s. Divide bits by 8 to get bytes.
Q. What's the difference between MB and MiB?
MB is 1,000,000 bytes (decimal); MiB is 1,048,576 bytes (binary).