Kibit/s to Mbps
1 kibibit per second equals 0.001024 megabits per second exactly.
How to convert kibibits per second to megabits per second
To convert kibibits per second to megabits per second, multiply the number of kibibits per second by 0.001024. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply megabits per second by 976.5625.
megabits per second = kibibits per second × 0.001024
Example: 10 kibibits per second = 0.01024 megabits 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
Megabit Per Second (Mbps)
1,000,000 bits per second. The unit of internet connection speeds; 8 Mbps is 1 MB/s.
Megabits entered everyday life through Ethernet. The original 10BASE5 version arrived in 1981 at 10 Mbit/s, Fast Ethernet raised the figure to 100 Mbit/s in 1995, and wireless followed, with 802.11b offering 11 Mbit/s in 1999. Telecommunications engineers had always meant exactly one million bits per second by the megabit, while computer memory vendors were stretching the word mega toward powers of two. That divergence is part of why the IEC later published separate binary prefixes.
Internet providers still sell service in Mbit/s, which is why a plan and a download counter seem to disagree. A byte is eight bits, so 100 Mbit/s is at most 12.5 MB/s, and a 1 GB file needs about 80 seconds at that rate under ideal conditions. Streaming is far lighter: YouTube video at 1080p is listed at roughly 3 to 8 Mbit/s with H.264, and 2160p at 8 to 35 Mbit/s. Real throughput is lower than the line rate because of protocol overhead.
1 megabit per second = 1,000,000 bits per second (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Bit rate (Ethernet, Wi-Fi and streaming rates); NIST: Prefixes for binary multiples; Wikipedia: Megabit
Related conversions
- Mbps to Kibit/s (reverse)
- Kibit/s to bps
- Kibit/s to Kbps
- Kibit/s to Gbps
- Kibit/s to MB/s
- Bps to Mbps
- Kbps to Mbps
- Gbps to Mbps
- MB/s to Mbps
- Tbps to Mbps
- B/s to Mbps
- KB/s to Mbps
- GB/s to Mbps
- MiB/s to Mbps
- Mibit/s to Mbps
- Gibit/s to Mbps
- KiB/s to Mbps
See all data transfer rate units.