KiB/s to Kbps
1 kibibyte per second equals 8.192 kilobits per second exactly.
How to convert kibibytes per second to kilobits per second
To convert kibibytes per second to kilobits per second, multiply the number of kibibytes per second by 8.192. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply kilobits per second by 0.1220703125.
kilobits per second = kibibytes per second × 8.192
Example: 10 kibibytes per second = 81.92 kilobits per second.
Network speeds are quoted in bits per second (lowercase b), while file sizes use bytes (uppercase B). Divide Mbps by 8 for MB/s.
About these units
Kibibyte Per Second (KiB/s)
1,024 bytes per second.
File-transfer dialogs and download managers often show a speed in kilobytes per second, and the kibibyte per second is the unambiguous form of that reading. A kibibyte is 1,024 bytes. The kilobyte had long been used for that number, especially for memory, because 1,024 is close to 1,000. In 1998 the IEC introduced kibibyte, KiB, and said that kilobyte should mean 1,000 bytes only.
Real software has been slow to follow. Windows divides sizes by 1,024, so a file of 65,536 bytes appears as 64 KB, while recent versions of macOS show the same file as 66 kB. For a rate, one kibibyte per second is 1,024 bytes per second, which is 8,192 bits per second and about 1.024 decimal kilobytes per second. It is eight times the kibibit per second, since a byte holds eight bits.
1 kibibyte per second = 8,192 bits per second (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Kilobyte; Wikipedia: Data-rate units; NIST: Prefixes for binary multiples
Kilobit Per Second (kbps)
1,000 bits per second. Used for voice calls and low-rate links.
Kilobit rates belong to the age of telephone wires. In 1962 AT&T introduced the Bell 103A, a full-duplex modem that sent 300 bit/s over ordinary phone lines, and by 1976 the Bell 212A had reached 1,200 bit/s. Speeds then climbed in steps through the 1990s, until the V.90 standard approved in 1998 offered 56 kbit/s downstream, with 33.6 kbit/s going the other way. That ceiling defined the dial-up era for many home users.
A kilobit per second is 1,000 bit/s, using the standard SI meaning of kilo, and it is still the natural unit for anything lightweight. A digital voice channel using PCM takes 64 kbit/s. MP3 files are often encoded at 128 kbit/s as a mid-range setting, with 320 kbit/s the highest the format supports. Divide by eight to get bytes: 8 kbit/s is 1 kB/s, so a 56 kbit/s modem moves about 7 kB/s, and fetching a 1 MB file over it would take roughly two and a half minutes.
1 kilobit per second = 1,000 bits per second (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Modem (Bell 103, 212A, V.90 history); Wikipedia: Bit rate (voice and MP3 rates); Wikipedia: Kilobit
Related conversions
- Kbps to KiB/s (reverse)
- KiB/s to bps
- KiB/s to Mbps
- KiB/s to Gbps
- KiB/s to MB/s
- Bps to Kbps
- Mbps to Kbps
- Gbps to Kbps
- MB/s to Kbps
- Tbps to Kbps
- B/s to Kbps
- KB/s to Kbps
- GB/s to Kbps
- MiB/s to Kbps
- Kibit/s to Kbps
- Mibit/s to Kbps
- Gibit/s to Kbps
See all data transfer rate units.