A megabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to either 10⁶ (1,000,000) bytes or 2²⁰ (1,048,576) bytes, depending on context. In rare cases, it is used to mean 1000×1024 (1,024,000) bytes. It is commonly abbreviated as Mbyte or MB (compare Mb, for the megabit). The term megabyte was coined in 1970.^[1] This is a list of characters from the animated television series, ReBoot. ... For the computer industry magazine, see Byte (magazine). ... An SI prefix (also known as a metric prefix) is a name or associated symbol that precedes a unit of measure (or its symbol) to form a decimal multiple or submultiple. ... // In computing, binary prefixes can be used to quantify large numbers where powers of two are more useful than powers of ten (such as computer memory sizes). ... In information technology there is sometimes confusion about measurement of bits and bytes. ... A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix kilo-, meaning 1,000) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to either 1,000 bytes or 1,024 bytes (210), depending on context. ... A kibibyte (a contraction of kilo binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, commonly abbreviated KiB (never kiB). 1 kibibyte = 210 bytes = 1,024 bytes The kibibyte is closely related to the kilobyte, which can be used either as a synonym for kibibyte or to refer to... MiB redirects here. ... This article is about the unit of measurement. ... A gibibyte is a unit of information or computer storage. ... This article is about a measurement term for data storage capacity. ... A tebibyte is a unit of information or computer storage, commonly abbreviated TiB. 1 tebibyte = 240 bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes The tebibyte is closely related to the terabyte, which can either be a synonym for tebibyte, or refer to 1012 bytes = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes... A petabyte (derived from the SI prefix peta- ) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one quadrillion bytes. ... A pebibyte is a unit of information or computer storage. ... An exabyte (derived from the SI prefix exa-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to approximately one quintillion bytes. ... An exbibyte (a contraction of exa binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated EiB. 1 exbibyte = 260 bytes = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes = 1,024 pebibytes The exbibyte is closely related to the exabyte, which can either be a synonym for exbibyte, or... A zettabyte (derived from the SI prefix zetta-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one sextillion (one long scale trilliard) bytes. ... A zettabyte (derived from the SI prefix zetta-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one sextillion (one long scale trilliard) bytes. ... A yottabyte (derived from the SI prefix yotta-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one septillion (one long scale quadrillion or 1024) bytes. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The ASCII codes for the word Wikipedia represented in binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding computer information. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the computer industry magazine, see Byte (magazine). ... The Megabit is a unit of information storage, abbreviated Mbit or sometimes Mb. ...

Definition

The term "megabyte" is ambiguous because it is commonly used to mean either 1000² bytes or 1024² bytes. The confusion originated as compromise technical jargon for the byte multiples that needed to be expressed by the powers of 2 but lacked a convenient name. As 1024 (2¹⁰) is roughly equal to 1000 (10³), roughly corresponding SI multiples began to be used as approximate binary multiples. By the end of 2007, standards and government authorities including IEC, IEEE, EU, and NIST, had addressed this ambiguity by promulgating standards requiring the use of megabyte to describe strictly 1000² bytes and "mebibyte" to describe 1024² bytes. This is reflected in an increasing number of software projects, but most file managers still show file sizes in "megabytes" ("MB") in the binary sense (1024² bytes). The term remains ambiguous and it can follow any one of the following common definitions: An SI prefix (also known as a metric prefix) is a name or associated symbol that precedes a unit of measure (or its symbol) to form a decimal multiple or submultiple. ... For other uses, see 2 (disambiguation). ... The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is an international standards organization dealing with electrical, electronic and related technologies. ... The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE (pronounced as eye-triple-ee) is an international non-profit, professional organization incorporated in the State of New York, United States. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: European Union The European Union On-Line Official EU website, europa. ... As a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration, the National Institute of Standards (NIST) develops and promotes measurement, standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life. ... MiB redirects here. ... A file manager is a software tool that provides a user interface to work with computer files. ...

1. 1,000,000 bytes (1000², 10⁶): This is the definition recommended by the International System of Units (SI) and the International Electrotechnical Commission IEC. This definition is used in networking contexts and most storage media, particularly hard drives, Flash-based storage, and DVDs, and is also consistent with the other uses of the SI prefix in computing, such as CPU clock speeds or measures of performance.
2. 1,048,576 bytes (1024², 2²⁰): This definition is most commonly used in reference to computer memory, but most software that display file size or drive capacity, including file managers also use this definition. See Consumer confusion (in the "gigabyte" article).
3. 1,024,000 bytes (1000×1024): This is used to describe the formatted capacity of USB flash drives and the "1.44 MB" 3.5 inch HD floppy disk, which actually has a 1,440 KiB capacity, that is, 1,440×1,024 bytes, or 1,474,560 bytes.

“SI” redirects here. ... The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is an international standards organization dealing with electrical, electronic and related technologies. ... A computer network is an interconnection of a group of computers. ... The terms storage (U.K.) or memory (U.S.) refer to the parts of a digital computer that retain physical state (data) for some interval of time, possibly even after electrical power to the computer is turned off. ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... A USB flash drive. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ... An SI prefix (also known as a metric prefix) is a name or associated symbol that precedes a unit of measure (or its symbol) to form a decimal multiple or submultiple. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... For other uses, see Flop. ... The terms storage (U.K.) or memory (U.S.) refer to the parts of a digital computer that retain physical state (data) for some interval of time, possibly even after electrical power to the computer is turned off. ... A file manager is a software tool that provides a user interface to work with computer files. ... This article is about the unit of measurement. ... JumpDrive redirects here. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... A kibibyte (a contraction of kilo binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, commonly abbreviated KiB (never kiB). 1 kibibyte = 210 bytes = 1,024 bytes The kibibyte is closely related to the kilobyte, which can be used either as a synonym for kibibyte or to refer to...

Megabyte examples

Depending on compression methods and file format, a megabyte of data can roughly be: A file format is a particular way to encode information for storage in a computer file. ...

• a 1024×1024 pixel bitmap image with 256 colours (8 bpp color depth).
• 1 minute of 128 kbit/s MP3 compressed music.
• 6 seconds of uncompressed CD audio.
• a typical book volume in text format (500 pages × 2000 characters).

This article is about the storage organization of raster images. ... Color depth is a computer graphics term describing the number of bits used to represent the color of a single pixel in a bitmapped image or video frame buffer. ... In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (sometimes written bitrate) is the frequency at which bits are passing a given (physical or metaphorical) point. It is quantified using the bit per second (bit/s) unit. ... For other uses, see MP3 (disambiguation). ... Audio compression is a form of data compression designed to reduce the size of audio files. ... Image of a recordable compact disc (pencil included for scale) A compact disc (or CD) is an optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio. ...

See also

• binary prefix
• kilobyte
• gigabyte
• mebibyte
• megabit
• orders of magnitude (data)

// In computing, binary prefixes can be used to quantify large numbers where powers of two are more useful than powers of ten (such as computer memory sizes). ... A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix kilo-, meaning 1,000) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to either 1,000 bytes or 1,024 bytes (210), depending on context. ... This article is about the unit of measurement. ... MiB redirects here. ... The Megabit is a unit of information storage, abbreviated Mbit or sometimes Mb. ... This is a list of orders of magnitude for data (or information), measured in bits. ...

External links

• Historical Notes About The Cost Of Hard Drive Storage Space
• the megabyte (established definition in Networking and Storage industries; from whatis.com)
• International Electrotechnical Commission definitions
• IEC prefixes and symbols for binary multiples

References