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Decimal megabytes and gigabytes versus binary mebibytes and gibibytes.
Choose a conversion below. Every tool includes an instant result, an example and a short explanation.
Digital capacity is measured in bytes, but its prefixes follow two different scales. SI prefixes are decimal: a megabyte is one million bytes and a gigabyte is one billion bytes. IEC binary prefixes use powers of two: a mebibyte is 2²⁰ bytes and a gibibyte is 2³⁰ bytes.
This distinction often explains why a device label and an operating-system capacity display show different numbers for the same byte count. The converter compares raw byte quantities, not file-system overhead, reserved space, compression or the difference between bits and bytes. Keep capitalization: MB means megabytes and Mb means megabits.
MB uses a decimal prefix and means 1,000,000 bytes, while MiB uses a binary prefix and means 1,048,576 bytes. Both are valid, but treating them as the same hides a difference that grows with larger files or storage devices. Check whether the software or device label uses decimal or binary prefixes.
The storage tools convert amounts of data, not a transfer rate. A file size in MB does not tell you how long a download takes unless you also know throughput and overhead. Pay attention to lowercase b for bits and uppercase B for bytes: eight bits make one byte, before any protocol overhead.