The Binary Foundation
Computers speak in 1s and 0s. Each 1 or 0 is a Bit.
Everything else is built on top of that.
The Hierarchy
- 8 Bits = 1 Byte (The standard unit for characters)
- 1,024 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte (KB)
- 1,024 KB = 1 Megabyte (MB)
- 1,024 MB = 1 Gigabyte (GB)
- 1,024 GB = 1 Terabyte (TB)
The "1000 vs 1024" Controversy
This is why your 1TB hard drive shows up as ~931GB in Windows.
- Hard drive manufacturers use the decimal system (1TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes).
- Operating systems often use the binary system (1TiB = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes).
Key Takeaways
- Lowercase 'b' is bits; Uppercase 'B' is bytes
- Internet speeds are usually in bits (Mbps)
- File sizes are usually in bytes (MB/GB)