Kibit/s to Kbps
1 kibibit per second equals 1.024 kilobits per second exactly.
How to convert kibibits per second to kilobits per second
To convert kibibits per second to kilobits per second, multiply the number of kibibits per second by 1.024. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply kilobits per second by 0.9765625.
kilobits per second = kibibits per second × 1.024
Example: 10 kibibits per second = 10.24 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
Kibibit Per Second (Kibit/s)
1,024 bits per second.
Kibibit per second is the smallest of the binary data-rate units on the site, and its name shows how it was built. The prefix kibi keeps the first two letters of kilo and adds bi for binary. It stands for 2 to the power 10, which is 1,024. The International Electrotechnical Commission approved the prefix in December 1998 and published it in January 1999 as an amendment to IEC 60027-2.
One kibibit per second is exactly 1,024 bits per second, or 128 bytes per second at 8 bits to the byte. A kilobit per second in the decimal sense is 1,000 bits per second, so the binary unit is 2.4 percent larger. Network speeds are almost always quoted with decimal prefixes, so this unit turns up mostly where a rate is derived from binary-sized buffers or memory blocks.
1 kibibit per second = 1,024 bits per second (exactly).
Sources: NIST: Prefixes for binary multiples; Wikipedia: Binary prefix; Wikipedia: Data-rate units
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 Kibit/s (reverse)
- Kibit/s to bps
- Kibit/s to Mbps
- Kibit/s to Gbps
- Kibit/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
- Mibit/s to Kbps
- Gibit/s to Kbps
- KiB/s to Kbps
See all data transfer rate units.