Gibibytes to Kilobits (GiB to kb)

1 gibibyte equals 8,589,934.592 kilobits exactly.

How to convert gibibytes to kilobits

To convert gibibytes to kilobits, multiply the number of gibibytes by 8,589,934.592. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply kilobits by 1.164153218×10⁻⁷ (rounded).

kilobits = gibibytes × 8,589,934.592

Example: 10 gibibytes = 85,899,345.92 kilobits.

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

Gibibyte (GiB)

ComputingCurrent unit

Exactly 1,073,741,824 bytes (2³⁰), about 7.4% larger than a gigabyte. Windows displays this as 'GB', which is why a 500 GB drive appears as about 465 GB.

Gibibyte is the unit that explains why a new drive looks smaller than its box says. It is the IEC name, from December 1998, for 2 to the thirtieth bytes, or 1,073,741,824 bytes, chosen to denote powers of 1,024 unambiguously. A GiB is about 7.4 percent larger than a decimal gigabyte, so a drive advertised as 500 GB holds 500 billion bytes, which is about 465.7 GiB.

Windows reports that number with the label GB, so users see a shortfall. RAM is still counted in the binary sense, while hard drives, SSDs, flash media and optical discs are usually labeled in decimal units. Courts have held that the legal definition of GB is the decimal one. The symbol GiB is formed by adding an i to GB, and apart from KDE and Qt-based applications it is rarely used in practice.

1 gibibyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Gibibyte; NIST: Prefixes for binary multiples

Kilobit (kb)

ComputingCurrent unit

1,000 bits (125 bytes). Used for data rates and sizes in telecommunications.

Kilobit means a thousand bits, and in telecommunications data rates are usually measured in decimal SI multiples. The article on the bit gives a handy example: a channel capacity of 8 kbit/s is 1 kB/s, so dividing kilobits by eight gives kilobytes. The binary counterpart, the kibibit, is 1,024 bits, but it is seldom used.

Symbols cause trouble. The IEC standard says to write kbit, while IEEE 1541-2002 recommends a lowercase b, giving kb, and the lowercase b may be confused with capital B for byte. On this site a kilobit is 125 bytes. The history behind it is that of the bit itself: Ralph Hartley proposed a logarithmic information measure in 1928, and Claude Shannon first used the word in 1948, crediting John W. Tukey.

1 kilobit = 125 bytes (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Bit; Wikipedia: Kilobit

Related conversions

See all digital storage units.