Bytes to Bits Converter

Bytes (B). A byte is eight bits and normally holds one character of text. It is the base unit for file sizes, memory and storage, and the unit your file manager reports.

Bits (b). A bit is the smallest unit of digital information: a single 0 or 1. Network speeds and mobile data caps are usually quoted in bits, while file sizes use bytes — eight bits make one byte.

Binary and decimal definitions diverge by about 2.4% at kilo and 7.4% at tera. This converter is binary throughout, so it will not match a manufacturer's decimal specification exactly.

A data conversion looks like the metric chain but is not: this converter uses binary steps, so a kilobyte is 1,024 bytes and a megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes, which is what an operating system reports for a file.

The same names are also used in a decimal system of 1,000, and the gap compounds as the units grow. It is why a drive sold at a round decimal capacity shows less in a file manager, and why a bundle described in decimal gigabytes delivers fewer binary gigabytes than the number suggests.

Checking a data conversion means deciding which definition the number came from before doing the arithmetic. A figure of 500 GB is exact under one definition and about 465 GiB under the other, and no amount of rounding makes those the same quantity.