Bytes to Gigabytes (B to GB)
1 byte equals 1×10⁻⁹ gigabytes exactly.
How to convert bytes to gigabytes
To convert bytes to gigabytes, multiply the number of bytes by 1×10⁻⁹. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply gigabytes by 1,000,000,000.
gigabytes = bytes × 1×10⁻⁹
Example: 10 bytes = 1×10⁻⁸ gigabytes.
Decimal prefixes (kB, MB, GB) are powers of 1,000; binary prefixes (KiB, MiB, GiB) are powers of 1,024. Storage makers use decimal; Windows reports binary but labels it GB.
About these units
Byte (B)
Eight bits. The basic addressable unit of memory and storage.
Werner Buchholz coined the word byte in June 1956 while working on the IBM Stretch computer; the earliest supporting document is dated 11 June 1956. He respelled bite on purpose, in his words to avoid accidental mutation to bit. At that stage a byte was any group of one to six bits, and a move to eight bits was considered in August 1956 and built into the design soon after. Louis Dooley later claimed he had coined the term around 1956 or 1957 on the SAGE project at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where it meant groups of four bits, but Fred Brooks credited Buchholz.
IBM's System/360 adopted the eight-bit byte, and its success made that size the standard. The symbol is a capital B, and the unambiguous alternative is octet, a word used in protocol standards such as RFC 791. A byte can hold 256 distinct values, enough for a letter of the alphabet in a simple character set, which is why files and memory addresses are counted in bytes.
The byte is the reference unit for digital storage on this site.
Sources: Wikipedia: Byte; Wikipedia: Binary prefix
Gigabyte (GB)
1,000,000,000 bytes (decimal). Storage manufacturers and phone makers use this definition.
The gigabyte is where the decimal-versus-binary dispute turned into lawsuits. Drive makers advertise capacity in decimal units, so a 500 GB drive holds 500 billion bytes, but Windows reports sizes in binary units and shows about 465.7 of what it labels GB for the same drive. Early challenges against Western Digital and Seagate were settled, with Western Digital adding disclaimers that usable capacity may differ from the advertised figure.
A 2019 lawsuit was decided in the manufacturers' favor, with the court relying on the decimal definition. For scale, one gigabyte holds roughly an hour of standard-definition video at 2.2 Mbit/s. A single-layer DVD+R holds about 4.7 GB and a single-layer Blu-ray about 25 GB. RAM is still often sized in binary gigabytes, which the IEC would call gibibytes.
1 gigabyte = 1,000,000,000 bytes (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Gigabyte; Wikipedia: Binary prefix; Wikipedia: Gibibyte
Related conversions
- Gigabytes to bytes (reverse)
- Bytes to kilobytes
- Bytes to megabytes
- Bytes to terabytes
- Bytes to bits
- Bytes to petabytes
- Bytes to kibibytes
- Bytes to mebibytes
- Bytes to gibibytes
- Bytes to tebibytes
- Bytes to kilobits
- Bytes to megabits
- Bytes to gigabits
- Kilobytes to gigabytes
- Megabytes to gigabytes
- Terabytes to gigabytes
- Bits to gigabytes
- Petabytes to gigabytes
- Kibibytes to gigabytes
- Mebibytes to gigabytes
- Gibibytes to gigabytes
- Tebibytes to gigabytes
- Kilobits to gigabytes
- Megabits to gigabytes
- Gigabits to gigabytes
See all digital storage units.