Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes & Terabytes are a way of measuring either the amount of data in a file/folder, or the capacity of a storage device/drive.
Below is a quick conversion table for Kilobytes to Megabytes to Gigabytes to Terabytes.
| How Many – | 1 Bit | 1 Byte | 1 Kilobyte | 1 Megabyte | 1 Gigabyte | 1 Terabyte |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bits in – | 1 | 8 | 8000 | 8 Million | 8 Billion | 8 Trillion |
| Bytes in – | > | 1 | 1000 | 1 Million | 1 Billion | 1 Trillion |
| Kilobytes in – | > | > | 1 | 1000 | 1 Million | 1 Billion |
| Megabytes in – | > | > | > | 1 | 1000 | 1 Million |
| Gigabytes in – | > | > | > | > | 1 | 1000 |
| Terabytes in – | > | > | > | > | > | 1 |
What are Bits And Bytes?
Bits and bytes are the smallest units of digital capacity. On your home computer, you’ll never use them.
But you will use their multiples Kilobytes, Megabytes and Gigabytes. So what are they?
A bit is a Binary Digit. A one or a zero to you and me.
Computers store & transmit data as ones and zeros.
These ones and zeros are collectively called bits.
When written as an abbreviation, you’d use the lower case letter “b” to signify bits.
Kilobits = Kb, Megabits = Mb, Gigabits = Gb.
Kilobits (Kb), Megabits (Mb) And Gigabits.
On your home computer, you wouldn’t normally measure anything in bits. Where it is used is to measure Internet speeds.
Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will normally advertise a download speed using either Kilobits (for dial up), or Megabits and Gigabits.
A Byte.
A Byte is just a group of 8 bits. Or 8 ones and zeros.
When written as an abbreviation, use the upper case letter “B” to signify bytes
Kilobytes = KB, Megabytes – MB, Gigabytes = GB, Terabytes – TB etc.
Where Does The Word Byte Come From?
The word byte is a contraction of the words “by eight”. If you say “by eight” quickly enough you can just about get it to sound like byte.
The letter “y” was substituted for the letter “i” to differentiate a Byte from a Bite.
Kilobytes To Megabytes To Gigabytes To Terabytes.
Bits and bytes are incredibly small amounts of data. To get anything meaningful you’d need thousands, millions or even billions of bytes. And that presents a problem. The numbers become huge.
In the metric system, when you get to a thousand you add the word “kilo”. So 1000 metres becomes 1 kilometre.
The same idea was adopted for digital storage. 1000 bytes becomes 1 kilobyte. Now 1 Kilobyte (1 KB) is in itself a very small amount of data. On your home PC you’re unlikely to be measuring your files and folders in kilobytes.
That’s because a file that’s few hundred Kilobytes in size, will probably fit on whatever storage device you want it to fit on.
Megabytes are probably the smallest unit you’ll use.
For example, a standard pop song recorded as an MP3 file will weigh in at around 4 megabytes (MB). That’s 4000 Kilobytes for a 3 minute song.
1 Megabyte = 1000 Kilobytes.
Gigabytes & Terabytes work exactly the same.
1 Gigabyte = 1000 Megabytes and 1 Terabyte = 1000 Gigabytes.
Summary.
Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes and Terabytes can be confusing to start with. But if you keep in mind that they’re simply units of size or capacity then you’re halfway there.
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