Mebibits to Bytes (Mibit to B)

1 mebibit equals 131,072 bytes exactly.

1 mebibit = 131,072 bytes

How to convert mebibits to bytes

To convert mebibits to bytes, multiply the number of mebibits by 131,072. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply bytes by 0.000007629394531 (rounded).

bytes = mebibits × 131,072

Example: 10 mebibits = 1,310,720 bytes.

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

Mebibit (Mibit)

ComputingCurrent unit

Exactly 1,048,576 bits.

Mebibit means 2^20 bits exactly, which is 1,048,576 bits, or 131,072 bytes (128 kibibytes). It comes from the IEC's 1998 binary prefix set, with mebi formed from the first two letters of mega plus bi. The symbol is Mibit.

Compared with the decimal megabit of 1,000,000 bits, a mebibit is about 4.9 percent larger. As an arithmetic example, 16 mebibits come to 16 x 1,048,576 = 16,777,216 bits, which is 2 mebibytes. Serial links and network speeds, by contrast, are conventionally counted in decimal megabits per second.

NIST's page on binary prefixes explains the intended pronunciation, with the first syllable said like the matching SI prefix and the second as bee.

1 mebibit = 131,072 bytes (exactly).

Sources: NIST: Prefixes for binary multiples; Wikipedia: Binary prefix; Wikipedia: Bit

Byte (B)

ComputingCurrent unit

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

Related conversions

See all digital storage units.