Binary & Decimal Conversion

Data Storage & Bandwidth Transfer Converter

Convert seamlessly between SI decimal (KB, MB, GB, TB) and IEC binary (KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB) units, and estimate exact file transfer times across 4G, 5G, and multi-gigabit fiber networks.

IEC Binary Size

93.13 GiB

SI Decimal Size

100.00 GB

1 Gbps Fiber Transfer

13m 20s

10G Datacenter Link

1m 20s

Standard Presets

Storage Amount

Source Unit

Conversion Matrix & Transfer Rates

The Decimal (SI) vs Binary (IEC) Data Storage Divide

Historically, the computer industry used decimal prefixes (kilo-, mega-, giga-) to denote binary powers of (2^{10} = 1024). In 1998, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standardized distinct binary prefixes (kibi-, mebi-, gibi-) to eliminate ambiguity between hardware disk manufacturers (who use decimal (10^3 = 1000)) and operating systems like Windows (which calculate capacity in binary (2^{10} = 1024)).

          1 \text{ GB (SI)} = 10^9 \text{ bytes} = 1,000,000,000 \text{ bytes} \\
          1 \text{ GiB (IEC)} = 2^{30} \text{ bytes} = 1,073,741,824 \text{ bytes} \quad (\approx 7.37\% \text{ larger than } 1 \text{ GB})
        

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my 1TB hard drive only show 931 GB in Windows?

Drive manufacturers sell 1 TB as (10^{12} = 1,000,000,000,000) bytes. Windows displays capacity using binary GiB ((1024^3) bytes) but labels it as "GB". Dividing 1,000,000,000,000 by (1024^3) equals exactly 931.32 GiB.

Why is download speed in Mbps while file sizes are in MB?

Network transmission speeds are measured in megabits per second (Mbps), while files on disk are stored in bytes (MB). Since 1 byte equals 8 bits, an 800 Mbps internet connection downloads a maximum of 100 MB per second before protocol overhead.