Byte me!
The smallest of these units is known as a bit (binary digit) [b]. A bit represents a single unit which contains a binary value of 0 or 1 (on/off).
A nibble contains 4 bits.
A byte [B] contains 8 bits. Multiples of bytes are most commonly used to measure computer storage and size. They can represent a single symbol, letter or number as well as a ‘string of bits’ that make up other files such as images. Some systems use octets instead of bytes. Both contain 8 bits. A Kilobyte [KB] is 210 (1024) bytes it is commonly approximated to a thousand bytes. A Megabyte [MB] is 220 bytes or 1024 Kilobytes. A Gigabyte [GB] is 230 bytes or 1024 Megabytes. A Terabyte [TB] is 240 bytes or 1024 Gigabytes. A Petabyte [PB] is 250 bytes or 1024 Terabytes. A Exabyte [EB] is 260 bytes or 1024 Petabytes. A Zettabyte [ZB] is 270 bytes or 1024 Exabytes. A Yottabyte [YB] is 280 bytes or 1024 Zettabytes. Currently, no computer physically has one Yottabyte of storage because of its enormous size. |
As you can see, each step up is 1024 times the previous. As the computer counts units by base two, there is a discrepancy when the decimal number system (powers of 10) is used in comparison. Storage units such as USBs or hard drives are usually measured in gigabytes or terabytes because of their size. Other smaller files are usually displayed in kilobytes or megabytes.
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