Kilohertz to Gigahertz (kHz to GHz)

1 kilohertz equals 0.000001 gigahertz exactly.

How to convert kilohertz to gigahertz

To convert kilohertz to gigahertz, multiply the number of kilohertz by 0.000001. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply gigahertz by 1,000,000.

gigahertz = kilohertz × 0.000001

Example: 10 kilohertz = 0.00001 gigahertz.

About these units

Kilohertz (kHz)

Metric (SI)Current unit

1,000 hertz. AM radio stations are tuned in kilohertz and audio is sampled at 44.1 kHz.

Older radio operators called it the kilocycle. Before the CGPM adopted the hertz in 1960, thousands of cycles per second were written kc/s, and the popular press only switched to kilohertz in the late 1960s. The name changed, but the number on the dial did not.

A kilohertz is 1,000 hertz, a range that covers audible sound and medium-wave radio. Medium wave runs from 531 to 1602 kHz in Europe, Asia and Africa with 9 kHz channel spacing, and from 530 to 1700 kHz in the Americas with 10 kHz spacing. Audio engineers use it for sampling rates: 44.1 kHz comes from the Compact Disc, which Sony used from 1979, and the rate was originally chosen so digital audio could fit on video tape for both PAL and NTSC. Because sampling must exceed twice the highest frequency, 44.1 kHz comfortably covers hearing up to 20 kHz.

1 kilohertz = 1,000 hertz (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Medium wave; Wikipedia: 44,100 Hz; Wikipedia: Kilohertz

Gigahertz (GHz)

Metric (SI)Current unit

One billion hertz. Modern processor clocks and Wi-Fi run at gigahertz frequencies.

On 6 March 2000, AMD demonstrated a processor passing the 1 GHz mark, a few days before Intel shipped 1 GHz systems, according to Wikipedia. After that, clock rates rose more slowly: Intel's 3 GHz Pentium 4 arrived in 2002, and later performance came more from design changes than raw speed, since higher clock rates produce more heat. The highest boost clock on a production processor is listed as 6.2 GHz for the Intel i9-14900KS in 2024.

A gigahertz is a billion hertz, the range known as microwaves. The most familiar example may be the kitchen: consumer microwave ovens typically run at 2.45 GHz, a band that is available for industrial, scientific and medical use worldwide. Percy Spencer of Raytheon discovered the heating effect in 1945 when a radar set melted a candy bar in his pocket, and Raytheon sold the first commercial oven, the Radarange, in 1947.

1 gigahertz = 1,000,000,000 hertz (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Clock rate; Wikipedia: Microwave oven; Wikipedia: Gigahertz

Related conversions

See all frequency units.