How much does one megabyte weigh? Units for measuring the volume of information. Largest memory size

A bit is one of the most famous quantities of information in the world. The first use of the word bit was proposed by Claude Shannon in 1948. It can be defined by Shannon as the binary logarithm of the probability of equally probable events or as a basic unit of measurement of information. It is possible to implement the bit as single-phase and two-phase. Did anyone understand anything..?

Nota Bene... If you came to this article to get answers to the questions:

Bits, bytes.....Theory

So, as already mentioned, the concept of “beat” was introduced by Claude Shannon in 1948.

What is a beat?

Simply put, a bit is a unit of information. It can take two values ​​- in computer science it is “1” or “0”. "True" or "False". "True" or "False". In electronics, “1” and “0” differ in voltage. So, based on the voltage value, any device can understand “1” it was sent or “0”. So:

  • The bit can take the following values: 1 or 0

What is a byte?

This is an amount of information equal to 8 bits. Those. 1 byte is 8 consecutive "1" or "0" (bits). For example:

  • 00000001
  • 10101010
  • 11111010

Etc... So "1" and "0" can be swapped 256 different ways. And a byte can take on 2 8 = 256 different values.

The concept of “byte” was first used in 1956 by V. Buchholz. This word is an abbreviated phrase that means binary term. Buchholz was involved in the design of the first supercomputer; according to his scientific achievements, a byte was a bundle that simultaneously transmits up to six to eight bits in I/O devices. Later, the byte was expanded to 8 bits as part of the same project. In some computer models in the 1950s and 1960s, a byte was equal to 9 bits; in a Soviet computer it was equal to 7 bits.

The rest..bytes

  • One Kilobyte is equal to 2 10 Bytes = 1024 Bytes. (Denoted as "KB")
  • One Megabyte is equal to 2 20 Bytes = 1024 Kilobytes = 1,048,576 Bytes. (Denoted "MB").
  • One Gigabyte is equal to 2 30 Bytes = 1024 Megabytes = 1,048,576 Kilobytes = a lot of Bytes..(1024 * 1,048,576 on the calculator) (Denoted "MB").
  • One Terabyte is equal to 2 40 Bytes = 1024 Gigabytes = 1,048,576 Megabytes = ... (Denoted "Tb")

According to computer slang, gigabytes are also called “hectare” and “gig”. The prefix “Tera” for Terabyte is not entirely correct, since it means multiplication by the twelfth power. There are also such units of information as petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte and yottobyte, but they are very rarely used.

Confusion with kilo...

There is often confusion with the prefix “kilo” and its perception not as a multiplier of 1024 (nipple system), but as the multiplier 1000 familiar from school (SI system). In fact, everything is simple here:

  • Inscriptions "KB", "MB", "GB", etc. means using a multiplier of 1024
  • Inscriptions "kilobyte", "megabyte", etc. - using a multiplier of 1000, etc...

Theory is over!

Let us now answer frequently asked questions...

FAQ?!

How many Kilobits are in Megabits

There are two options when answering the question how many kilobits are in a megabit:

  • Correct- 1000 kilobits (SI system) (When using this option, it is better to write that there are 1000 decimal kilobits in one megabit)
  • And the second - 1024 kilobits (in the binary approach) (There is no concept of “Megabit” as “Mbyte”. Therefore, generally speaking, it is not correct to say that there are 1024 kilobits in a megabit)

Both options are quite popular, often used, which is why all sorts of inaccuracies arise. Computer designers, aka programmers, usually use the value 1000.

How many Kilobits in Megabyte

Most often this question is asked to calculate Internet speed, because... different providers indicate it differently. Some in Kilobits per second, some in Megabytes per second...

As already described, historically the unit of data transmission was the bit. The measurement speed was carried out in baud 1 baud = 1 bit/sec.

Now this concept is outdated and not used at all. Therefore, you can forget it, unless you need to pass the computer science dinosaur exam. So, to convert megabytes to kilobits, remember that:

  • 1 Byte = 8 Bits
  • 1 MegaByte = 1024 KiloBytes

We get:

  • 1 Megabyte= 1024 KiloByte = 1024 * 8 KiloBit or what is the same 2 13 = 8192 KiloBit

How many Kilobytes are in Megabytes?

There are 1024 Kilobytes in a Megabyte.

Read about the resolution of the dispute about 1000 Kilobytes in Megabytes in theory...

p.s.: There is an unfunny joke... What is the difference between an ordinary person and an ordinary programmer? An ordinary person thinks that there are 1000 bytes in a kilobyte, but a programmer thinks that there are 1024 grams in a kilogram... Haha. Shovel.

How many Kilobytes are in Gigabyte

So we convert Gigabytes to Kilobytes:

  • 1 Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes
  • 1 Gigabyte = 1024 Megabytes

Therefore →

  • 1 Gigabyte = 1024x1024 Kilobytes = 1,048,576 Kilobytes.

What is greater: Kilobyte or Megabyte?

As already written above:

  • 1 Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes

Therefore, one megabyte is much larger than one kilobyte.

Users of personal computers quite often encounter concepts such as kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte and terabyte. First, it is necessary to say that kilobytes, megabytes and others are systems for measuring information on a personal computer. Perhaps everyone, when installing one or another software I came across the fact that the program indicated the amount of space that it will occupy after installation. Each program or file takes up a certain amount of space on a personal computer. Beginner users may have some problems with measurements. It should be remembered that each concept implies a certain amount of space taken up. For example, 1,024 bytes are stored, a megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes, a megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes, and a terabyte is 1,000,000,000 kilobytes.

Each of the terms presented is indicated in abbreviated form (as can be seen above). This was adopted so that people could better understand the amount of memory required, and the number itself was written in a shortened form. Each of these names indicates the amount of memory required.

Differences between kilobytes and kilobits

Some personal computer users quite often confuse kilobytes with kilobits, megabytes with megabits, and so on. Perhaps, novice users of personal computers often have this question. It becomes especially acute when they start downloading something from the Internet and see that the speed is different from the declared one (according to users). Unfortunately, such users are deeply mistaken because they do not see the difference between the concepts.

Firstly, it is necessary to say that kilobytes/ and megabytes/ are designated differently. For example, kilobytes/kilobits are denoted by KB/s and Kb/s, respectively. There is a similar difference in other dimensions. Naturally, the differences do not end there. It is also necessary to understand that kilobytes are the volume of downloaded information, and kilobits are the speed itself.

In order to understand how quickly a particular amount of memory will be downloaded, it is necessary to carry out simple calculations. For example, the Internet provider declared a speed of 512 Kb/s. In order to calculate the amount of memory, you need to divide 512 by 8 (since there are 8 bits in one byte), and the result is 64 KB/s. Using such simple calculations, you can get a number indicating the volume.

We live in a world where almost everything is measured. Weight, length, height are measured. And much more. And today, in this article, we will get acquainted with the unit of measurement of information, we will find out what is greater than 1kb or 1mb. And how much is 1 GB MB.

How to measure data?

In the beginning there was the word. No, I apologize if I hurt anyone's feelings, but we are talking about computer science. And that means in the beginning there was “Beat”. A bit is the smallest piece of information. It can only have two meanings. 0 or 1. Yes or no. To be or not to be. Loves or not. So as you can see, even one bit can be a very important unit.

What is more - 1kb or 1mb?

We've already gotten used to it since childhood. 1 kilo means 1000. For example, one kilogram is equal to a thousand grams. There is another word - mega. In mathematics, it means a number consisting of a million particles or, more simply, 1000 kilos. Well, giga means 1000 mega. That is, it is clear that 1 MB (megabyte) will be more than 1 KB (kilobyte). But how much? A thousand times? You are sure? Let's take a look at the drawing.

We see an interesting picture. Here is information about the flash drive. And what do we see?

Free space 6,488,064 bytes. A megabyte is equal to 6.18 MB. If you suddenly think that my computer is racing, you can check it yourself. Why? Read on.

How many MB in 1 GB

We already see that 1 megabyte is NOT equal to 1000 bytes. And this is what the table will look like.

  • 1kbyte = 1,024 bytes
  • 1 MB = 1,024 KB = 1,048,576 bytes
  • 1GB = 1,024 MB = 1,073,741,824 bytes

It will probably be interesting to know why this is so. This is due to the features binary system, in which all computers work, and so on.

The fact is that the digits in our usual decimal system look like this.

1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000, 1000000 and so on.

But in the binary system, it’s different.

2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024.

Thus, in the decimal system, 1 kilo is equal to ten to the third power or simply 1000. In the binary system, 2 to the tenth power = 1024. And since these numbers are almost equal, they were given the same prefix. But remember, when measuring kilograms, 1 kilogram is equal to 1000 grams, but when measuring bytes, 1kbyte is equal to 1024 bytes.


Computer technologies have already become so deeply integrated into the lives of ordinary citizens that, probably, nowadays almost everyone knows how many megabytes are in a gigabyte. At least he thinks he knows. It is not very often that you hear the correct answer to this seemingly elementary and childish question. With all this, the answer options are always different.

megabyte and gigabyte?

These days it is quite difficult to find people who do not know what these two words mean - megabyte and gigabyte. These terms are used in the computer world specifically to describe the space required to store files or the capacity of a storage device.

On this moment gigabyte is the most common term that is very often used to describe the size of both movies or computer games, and hard drive or random access memory. Although the term terabyte may soon displace the most common today from everyday life computer concept, so it is quite possible that soon it will not be necessary to know how many megabytes are in a gigabyte.

Do you need to know the number of megabytes in a gigabyte?

Few people will argue with the statement that you can use a personal computer without knowing how many megabytes are in a gigabyte. However, judge for yourself: elementary computer information These days, almost every schoolchild knows: computer science lessons are not in vain.

Every day we all come across bits, bytes, kilobytes and other units of measurement of computer information, because it is with their help that we can measure operational or internal memory devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, personal computers, flash cards, MP3 players and others.

Internet users almost constantly deal with megabytes and gigabytes, especially if they download to their Personal Computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone any program, audio recording or film. Knowing how long a particular file downloaded from the Internet takes is extremely important, because using this knowledge, you can understand how long it will take to download a song, movie, or computer game and is there enough free space on the flash drive for this?

So how many megabytes are in a gigabyte?

Initially, it may seem that converting megabytes to gigabytes is very simple. Surely, each of us remembers from our school days that “giga” means a billion, while “mega” means a million. Hence, the answer to the question of how many megabytes are in one gigabyte would seem logical. To convert from megabytes to gigabytes, you just need to multiply the number by a thousand, and the result will not be long in coming. But it was not there. There are not 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte, as the vast majority believe, but 1024.

Why not 1000?

As you know, absolutely all computers operate in numerals, that is, in their work they use only two digits - 0 and 1. In turn, a unit of information that can take the value 0 or 1 is called a bit. Soon a byte appeared that included 8 bits. Time passed, technology improved, and over time it became clear that the byte was still very small, and larger units were needed to measure information.

Soon they remembered the international system for measuring quantities. However, in computer science it was much more convenient to measure quantities in powers of two, so together with 1000 it was decided to choose the number 1024, since it is 10 2. After this, the binary “kilo” became equal to 1024. Based on the above, we can confidently say how many megabytes are in gigabyte - 1024.

Do you want to know, how much is 1 GB, megabyte and kilobyte, then read this article, where you will get comprehensive answers to this question.

What is larger: kilobyte or megabyte?

I think that most of those who use the Internet know that all the information that is posted in this virtual space (texts, pictures, videos, sounds, etc.) is presented as a set of numbers.

And this whole set of numbers can be measured, and now I will show you how to do it. After this, you can convert bytes to bits, bits to kilobytes, kilobytes to kilobits, kilobits to megabytes, megabytes to megabits, megabits to gigabytes to gigabits, gigabyte to terabyte, tarabyte to tarabit.

So, if you need to know how much is contained in 1 GB or 1 MB KB, then now, I will tell you about it in detail. I don’t know why you will need this if you are not a programmer (although they don’t really need such information), but nevertheless, I’ll tell you about it now, because I recently thought about this question and decided to write an entire article. By at least this will help you estimate the size of the downloaded information and more.

There is nothing complicated here; it is enough to know some rules and have a calculator at hand.

  1. 1 byte is 8 bits
  2. 1 kb is 1024 bytes
  3. 1 MB is 1024 kilobytes
  4. 1 GB is 1024 megabytes
  5. 1 terabyte is 1024 gigabytes

Abbreviations that are considered generally accepted:

  1. kilobyte - kb
  2. megabyte - mb
  3. giga-byte - GB

You should also know that in the world of information only the binary measurement system is used, and not the decimal one to which we are accustomed. That is, a number can take a value not from 0 to 10, but from 0 to 1.

That is, the simplest digit for measuring information is 1 bit, the value of which can be 0 or 1.
And due to the fact that such an insignificant value is very small for measuring the size (volume) of information, it is almost not used, but a byte is used, where 1 byte is equal to 18 bits. And it can take values ​​from 0 to 15 (hexadecimal number system), only instead of numerical indicators 10-15 the letters from A to F are used. These volumes of information measurements are also not particularly large, so the familiar prefixes kilo (1000), mega (1,000,000), giga (1,000,000,000).

Also, I want to add that in information space kilobyte = not 1,000 bytes, but 1024. And if you want to know how many kilobytes are in a megabyte, then you will also get the number 1024. And asking the question: “so how many megabytes are in a gigabyte”? you will hear the same answer - 1024.

This “metamorphosis” is determined by the peculiarity of the binary calculation system. That is, when using tens, we will obtain each new digit by multiplying by 10 (1, 10, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000, etc.), then with the binary method of calculus, a new digit appears after that how to perform the operation of multiplying by 2.
An example of how it all looks: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024
That is, a number consisting of 10 digits in the binary system can only have 1024 values. This is more than 1,000, but is closest to the kilo- prefix. Exactly the same calculation scheme is used: mega.., giga.. and tera...