How much is 1 byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, etc.?

How much is 1 byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, etc.?: In the hardware world it is imperative to use magnitude when we talk about storage or capacity. Megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte and even petabyte are very common words that we use on a daily basis but how big is it? In this article we are going to put all these zodiac signs in perspective so that you know what they mean in a specific context.

It is easy to understand that 500 gigabytes is greater than 100 gigabytes. You probably also know that a terabyte is 1024 gigabytes, but if you’re not familiar with computer architecture, the terms are too abstract. Although you can easily estimate a magnitude like a meter or a liter, when we talk about a terabyte or a petabyte, things change, don’t they?

To put this in perspective, let’s take a look at the storage sizes used by computers to see how large we handle on a daily basis.

How much is 1 byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, etc.?

Bit

A bit is a value of either a 1 or 0 (on or off).

Nibble

A nibble is 4 bits.

Byte

Today, a byte is 8 bits.

• 1 character, e.g., “a”, is one byte.

Kilobyte (KB)

A kilobyte is 1,024 bytes.

• 2 or 3 paragraphs of text.

Megabyte (MB)

A megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes or 1,024 kilobytes.

• 873 pages of plain text (1,200 characters).
• 4 books (200 pages or 240,000 characters).

Gigabyte (GB)

A gigabyte is 1,073,741,824 (2³⁰) bytes. 1,024 megabytes, or 1,048,576 kilobytes.

• 894,784 pages of plain text (1,200 characters).
• 4,473 books (200 pages or 240,000 characters).
• 640 web pages (with 1.6 MB average file size).
• 341 digital pictures (with 3 MB average file size).
• 256 MP3 audio files (with 4 MB average file size).
• 1 650 MB CD.

Terabyte (TB)

A terabyte is 1,099,511,627,776 (2⁴⁰) bytes, 1,024 gigabytes, or 1,048,576 megabytes.

• 916,259,689 pages of plain text (1,200 characters).
• 4,581,298 books (200 pages or 240,000 characters).
• 655,360 web pages (with 1.6 MB average file size).
• 349,525 digital pictures (with 3 MB average file size).
• 262,144 MP3 audio files (with 4 MB average file size).
• 1,613 650 MB CDs.
• 233 4.38 GB DVDs.
• 40 25 GB Blu-ray discs.

Petabyte (PB)

A petabyte is 1,125,899,906,842,624 (2⁵⁰) bytes, 1,024 terabytes, 1,048,576 gigabytes, or 1,073,741,824 megabytes.

• 938,249,922,368 pages of plain text (1,200 characters).
• 4,691,249,611 books (200 pages or 240,000 characters).
• 671,088,640 web pages (with 1.6 MB average file size).
• 357,913,941 digital pictures (with 3 MB average file size).
• 268,435,456 MP3 audio files (with 4 MB average file size).
• 1,651,910 650 MB CDs.
• 239,400 4.38 GB DVDs.
• 41,943 25 GB Blu-ray discs.

Exabyte (EB)

An exabyte is 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 (2⁶⁰) bytes, 1,024 petabytes, 1,048,576 terabytes, 1,073,741,824 gigabytes, or 1,099,511,627,776 megabytes.

• 960,767,920,505,705 pages of plain text (1,200 characters).
• 4,803,839,602,528 books (200 pages or 240,000 characters).
• 687,194,767,360 web pages (with 1.6 MB average file size).
• 366,503,875,925 digital pictures (with 3 MB average file size).
• 274,877,906,944 MP3 audio files (with 4 MB average file size).
• 1,691,556,350 650 MB CDs.
• 245,146,535 4.38 GB DVDs.
• 42,949,672 25 GB Blu-ray discs.

Zettabyte (ZB)

A zettabyte is 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 (2⁷⁰) bytes, 1,024 exabytes, 1,048,576 petabytes, 1,073,741,824 terabytes, 1,099,511,627,776 gigabytes, or 1,125,899,910,000,000 megabytes.

• 983,826,350,597,842,752 pages of plain text (1,200 characters).
• 4,919,131,752,989,213 books (200 pages or 240,000 characters).
• 703,687,443,750,000 web pages (with 1.6 MB average file size).
• 375,299,970,000,000 digital pictures (with 3 MB average file size).
• 281,474,977,500,000 MP3 audio files (with 4 MB average file size).
• 1,732,153,707,691 650 MB CDs.
• 251,030,052,003 4.38 GB DVDs.
• 43,980,465,111 25 GB Blu-ray discs.

Yottabyte (YB)

A yottabyte is 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 (2⁸⁰) bytes, 1,024 zettabytes, 1,048,576 exabytes, 1,073,741,824 petabytes, 1,099,511,627,776 terabytes, 1,125,899,910,000,000 gigabytes, or 1,152,921,500,000,000,000 megabytes.

• 1,007,438,183,012,190,978,921 pages of plain text (1,200 characters).
• 5,037,190,915,060,954,894 books (200 pages or 240,000 characters).
• 720,575,937,500,000,000 web pages (with 1.6 MB average file size).
• 384,307,166,666,666,666 digital pictures (with 3 MB average file size).
• 288,230,375,000,000,000 MP3 audio files (with 4 MB average file size).
• 1,773,725,384,615,384 650 MB CDs.
• 257,054,773,251,740 4.38 GB DVDs.
• 45,035,996,273,704 25 GB Blu-ray discs.

Computer Skills Course: Bits, Bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes (UPDATED VERSION)

Final Words

A bit is the smallest unit that can be stored in a computer. Since PCs use the binary system, each bit can be either a zero (0) or a (1). To put this in perspective, one bit is enough to store whether the value is true or false; For example, in a PC game, a single bit may be 1 if the player has received a certain item, or 0 if he has not received it.