Kilobits to Gigabytes (kb to GB)
1 kilobit equals 1.25×10⁻⁷ gigabytes exactly.
How to convert kilobits to gigabytes
To convert kilobits to gigabytes, multiply the number of kilobits by 1.25×10⁻⁷. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply gigabytes by 8,000,000.
gigabytes = kilobits × 1.25×10⁻⁷
Example: 10 kilobits = 0.00000125 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
Kilobit (kb)
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
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 kilobits (reverse)
- Kilobits to bytes
- Kilobits to kilobytes
- Kilobits to megabytes
- Kilobits to terabytes
- Kilobits to bits
- Kilobits to petabytes
- Kilobits to kibibytes
- Kilobits to mebibytes
- Kilobits to gibibytes
- Kilobits to tebibytes
- Kilobits to megabits
- Kilobits to gigabits
- Bytes to gigabytes
- 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
- Megabits to gigabytes
- Gigabits to gigabytes
See all digital storage units.