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Information about Kilobyte

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Quantities of bytes
SI prefixes Historical use Binary prefixes
Symbol
(name)		 Value  Symbol  Value Symbol
(name)		 Value
kB (kilobyte)10001 = 103KB10241 = 210KiB (kibibyte)210
MB (megabyte)10002 = 106MB10242 = 220MiB (mebibyte)220
GB (gigabyte)10003 = 109GB10243 = 230GiB (gibibyte)230
TB (terabyte)10004 = 1012TB10244 = 240TiB (tebibyte)240
PB (petabyte)10005 = 1015PB10245 = 250PiB (pebibyte)250
EB (exabyte)10006 = 1018EB10246 = 260EiB (exbibyte)260
ZB (zettabyte)10007 = 1021ZB10247 = 270ZiB (zebibyte)270
YB (yottabyte)10008 = 1024YB10248 = 280YiB (yobibyte)280
Legacy Units
Unit Value
KB210 Bytes = 1024 Bytes
MB220 Bytes = 1024 KB
GB230 Bytes = 1024 MB
TB240 Bytes = 1024 GB


A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix kilo-, meaning 1,000) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to either 1,000 bytes or 1,024 bytes (210), depending on context.

It can be abbreviated a number of ways: K, KB, Kbyte and kB.

Ambiguity

Main article: Binary prefix
The exact number of bytes in a kilobyte has traditionally been ambiguous. Locations in electronic memory circuits are identified by binary numbers, which means that the number of addressable locations naturally becomes a power of 2, and memory sizes are therefore not integer multiples (or fractions) of 1000. However, as 210 = 1024 ≈ 1000, the established K (for kilo) was early on employed as a convenient "approximate" prefix for memory capacities in multiples of 1024. On the other hand, for products where (some) capacity factors were not equally bound to powers of two, such as magnetic disks (sector and track numbers) and networking equipment (bit rates), strict decimal-based units were used.

Some have suggested that the capitalized prefix K should be used to distinguish this quantity from the SI prefix k, and although this has never been formally mandated, it is commonly practised (even though K is already used as the SI symbol for kelvins). However, it is not extensible to the higher-order prefixes, as SI already uses the prefixes m and M to mean "thousandth" and "million" respectively. There are also proposals to capitalize all greater-than-unity prefixes (D, H, K, M, G, ...), which would conflict with this. See SI prefix.

These prefixes can therefore be used with either decimal (powers of 1000) or binary (powers of 1024) values, depending on context:
  • 1024 bytes (210): This definition is always used to express memory chip capacity, and other quantities which are based on powers of two. Most software also uses it to express storage capacity. This definition has been expressly forbidden by the SI standard (http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/si-brochure.pdf section 3.1, marginal note), and, since 1998, most standards organizations instead recommend the term kibibyte (KiB). Although the word "kibibyte" is seldom seen in practice, it is starting to be adopted by some software, such as BitTorrent or the Linux kernel. http://lwn.net/2002/0103/a/esr-kibi.php3 Yet, according to Google test, its usage is less than 0.3%.
  • 1000 bytes (103): This definition is consistent with the SI prefix, and is recommended for all uses by international standards organizations such as IEC, IEEE, and ISO, with the abbreviation "kB". The overwhelming popularity of the 1024 definition for memory and file sizes means that anyone using "kilobyte" to mean 1000 in these situations is likely to cause confusion. However, it is common to use 1000 when deriving kilobyte measures from quantities which are not based on powers of two, such as bitrates.
Kilobyte (abbreviated to kB with an upper case b) is not to be confused with the term kilobit (abbreviated to kb with a lower case b).

See also

byte (pronounced /baɪt/) is a unit of measurement of information storage, most often consisting of eight bits. In many computer architectures it is a unit of memory addressing.
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An SI prefix (also known as a metric prefix) is a name or associated symbol that precedes a unit of measure (or its symbol) to form a decimal multiple or submultiple.
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In computing, binary prefixes can be used to quantify large numbers where powers of two are more useful than powers of ten (such as computer memory sizes). Each successive prefix is multiplied by 1024 (210) rather than the 1000 (103
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kibibyte (a contraction of kilo binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000. Its symbol is KiB.
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megabyte or Mbyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to either 106 (1,000,000) bytes or 220 (1,048,576) bytes, depending on context. In rare cases, it is used to mean 1000×1024 (1,024,000) bytes.
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mebibyte (a contraction of mega binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated MiB.

1 MiB = 220 bytes = 1,048,576 bytes = 1,024 kibibytes
1 MiB = 1024 (= 210

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gigabyte or Gbyte (derived from the SI prefix giga-) is a unit of information or computer storage meaning either 1000³ bytes or 1024³ bytes (1000³ = one billion). The usage of the word "gigabyte" is ambiguous, depending on the context.
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gibibyte (a contraction of giga binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated GiB[1].

1 gibibyte = 230 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes = 1,024 mebibytes

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terabyte (derived from the prefix tera- and commonly abbreviated TB) is a measurement term for data storage capacity. The value of a terabyte is based upon a decimal radix (base 10) and is defined as one trillion (short scale) bytes, or 1000 gigabytes.
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tebibyte (a contraction of tera binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated TiB.

1 tebibyte = 240 bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes = 1,024 gibibytes

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petabyte (derived from the SI prefix peta- ) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one quadrillion bytes. It is commonly abbreviated PB. When used with byte multiples, the prefix may indicate a power of either 1000 or 1024, so the exact number may be
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pebibyte (a contraction of peta binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated PiB.

1 pebibyte = 250 bytes = 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes = 1,024 tebibytes

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exabyte (derived from the SI prefix exa-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one quintillion bytes. It is commonly abbreviated EB. When used with byte multiples, the SI prefix may indicate a power of either 1000 or 1024, so the exact number may be
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exbibyte (a contraction of exa binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated EiB.

1 exbibyte = 260 bytes = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes = 1,024 pebibytes

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zettabyte (derived from the SI prefix zetta-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one sextillion (one long scale trilliard) bytes. It is commonly abbreviated ZB. As of 2007, no computer has one zettabyte of storage.
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zebibyte (a contraction of zetta binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, commonly abbreviated ZiB.

1 zebibyte = 270 bytes = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bytes = 1,024 exbibytes
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yottabyte (derived from the SI prefix yotta-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one septillion (one long scale quadrillion or 1024) bytes. It is commonly abbreviated YB. As of 2007, no computer has achieved one yottabyte of storage.
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yobibyte (a contraction of yotta binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, commonly abbreviated YiB.

1 yobibyte = 280 bytes = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes = 1,024 zebibytes
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An SI prefix (also known as a metric prefix) is a name or associated symbol that precedes a unit of measure (or its symbol) to form a decimal multiple or submultiple.
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kilo- is a metric prefix.

Kilo may also refer to:
  • Kilo, Espoo, a district of Espoo, Finland
  • KILO, a Colorado radio station
  • Kilo class submarine, the NATO reporting name for a type of Russian submarine

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Information is the result of processing, gathering, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the receiver. In other words, it is the context in which data is taken.
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Computer data storage, computer memory, and often casually storage or memory refer to computer components, devices and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time.
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byte (pronounced /baɪt/) is a unit of measurement of information storage, most often consisting of eight bits. In many computer architectures it is a unit of memory addressing.
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In computing, binary prefixes can be used to quantify large numbers where powers of two are more useful than powers of ten (such as computer memory sizes). Each successive prefix is multiplied by 1024 (210) rather than the 1000 (103
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binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, is a numeral system that represents numeric values using two symbols, usually 0 and 1. More specifically, the usual base-2 system is a positional notation with a radix of 2.
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power of two is any of the integer powers of the number two;[1] in other words, two multiplied by itself a certain number of times.[2] Note that one is a power (the zeroth power) of two. Written in binary, a power of two always has the form 100...
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as a college campus, industrial complex, or a military base. A CAN, may be considered a type of MAN (metropolitan area network), but is generally limited to an area that is smaller than a typical MAN.
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Capital letters or majuscules (in the Roman alphabet: A, B, C, D, ...) are one type of case in a writing system. Capital letters (also simply called capitals or caps) are also known as upper case
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The kelvin (symbol: K) is a unit increment of temperature and is one of the seven SI base units. The Kelvin scale is a thermodynamic (absolute) temperature scale where absolute zero — the coldest possible temperature — is zero kelvins
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