Thread: Bits

Well since i get this question alot and people mistake what kbs and KBs means, i have written this as a reply to another guy, and thought i would post it here, and if im wrong in some points plz reply so i can correct it, but im pretty sure i got it right.

Okay if i get it correctly i will try to explain how it works.

you could say it this way.
b = bit
B = Byte
Kib = kibibit
kb = kilobit
KiB = kibibyte
kB = kilobyte
Mb = megabit
MiB = mebibyte
MB = megabyte
Gb = gigabit
GiB = gibibyte
GB = gigabyte
Tb = terabit
TiB = tebibyte
TB= terabyte
Pb = petabit
PiB = pebibyte
PB = petabyte
Eb = exabit
EiB = exbibyte
EB = exabyte

so here is it with speeds

bs = bit/s
Bs = Byte/s
Kibs = kibibit/s
kbs = kilobit/s
KiBs = kibibyte/s
kBs = kilobyte/s
Mbs = megabit/s
MiBs = mebibyte/s
MBs = megabyte/s
Gbs = gigabit/s
GiBs = gibibyte/s
GBs = gigabyte/s
Tbs = terabit/s
TiBs = tebibyte/s
TBs = terabyte/s
Pbs = petabit/s
PiBs = pebibyte/s
PBs = petabyte/s
Ebs = exabit/s
EiBs = exbibyte/s
EBs = exabyte/s

Usually ips write what speed you get in kbs(kilobits/s).



And now i will try to explain how you can convert kbs to KBs etc:

1000 bit = 1 kilobit
1000 kilobit = 1 megabit
1000 megabit = 1 gigabit
1000 gigabit = 1 terabit
1000 terabit = 1 petabit
1000 petabit = 1 exabit

1024 bits = 1 kibibit
1024 byte = 1 kibibyte
1024 kibibyte = 1 mebibyte
1024 mebibyte = 1 gibibyte
1024 gibibyte = 1 tebibyte
1024 tebibyte = 1 pebibyte
1024 pebibyte = 1 exbibyte

8 bit = 1 byte
1024 byte = 1 kilobyte
1024 kilobyte = 1 megabyte
1024 megabyte = 1 gigabyte
1024 gigabyte = 1 terabyte
1024 terabyte = 1 petabyte
1024 petabyte = 1 exabyte

Well this doesnt help us much, cuz we need to figure out how many 1 megabit is in kilobyte

1 kilobit = 1000 bit = 125 byte
1 megabit = 1000 kilobit = 125 kilobyte
1 gigabit = 1000 megabit = 125000 kilobyte
1 terabit = 1000 gigabit = 125000000 kilobyte
1 petabit = 1000 terabit = 125000000000 kilobyte


I hope this explains abit, and if not, im just gonna try to give a few examples. on some known connection types, that ppl usually have with fiber or adsl.

256kilobit/s(256kbs) = 32kilobyte/s or 32kB/s or
512kilobit/s(512kbs) = 64kilobyte or 64kB/s or
768kilobit/s(768kbs) = 96kilobyte or 96kB/s or
1mbit/s(1mbs/1mbits) = 125kilobyte or 125kB/s or
10mbit/s(10mbs/10mbits) = 1250kilobyte or 1250kB/s or

And just for thoose who doesnt know, "s" means "per second" so 256kbs = 256 kilobit per second

Originally Posted by Addicted

1024 byte = 1 kilobyte
1024 kilobyte = 1 megabyte
1024 megabyte = 1 gigabyte
1024 gigabyte = 1 terabyte
1024 terabyte = 1 petabyte
1024 petabyte = 1 exabyte

Not trying to be a dick but these should all be 1000's

Originally Posted by abr27440

Not trying to be a dick but these should all be 1000's

Actually your both correct depending on who you ask. According to the notation, there's an informal and IEEE.

If its an informal notation, then Addicted is correct.
If its a IEEE notation, then your correct.

I'm being a dick about it.

Originally Posted by patmanpon

Actually your both correct depending on who you ask. According to the notation, there's an informal and IEEE.

If its an informal notation, then Addicted is correct.
If its a IEEE notation, then your correct.

I'm being a dick about it.

Yes normally megabyte (etc.) is somewhat ambiguous because of history and (more recently) sloppiness, but in the context of this post it shouldn't be. When you talk about megabytes and mebibytes at the same time its implicit that you are using the precise (current) definition of the word, ie megabyte = 10^6 bytes and mebibyte = 2^20 bytes.