Is It True That 1 Mb Can Mean Either 1000000 Bytes, 1024000 Bytes, or 1048576 Bytes? [Duplicate]

Elena Rostova
Elena Rostova
• • 6 min read

This Question Already Has Answers Here: Closed 10 Year's Ago. Possible Duplicate: What Is the Difference Between a Kibibyte, a Kilobit, and a Kilobyte? If 1 Kb...

Is It True That 1 Mb Can Mean Either 1000000 Bytes, 1024000 Bytes, or 1048576 Bytes? [Duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:
What is the difference between a kibibyte, a kilobit, and a kilobyte?

If 1 KB (kilobyte) can mean either 1000 bytes or 1024 bytes,

And 1 MB (megabyte) can mean either 1000 KB or 1024 KB,

doesn't that mean that 1 MB can either mean any of the one of the four below? :

  1. 1000 × 1000 = 1000000 bytes

  2. 1000 × 1024 = 1024000 bytes

  3. 1024 × 1000 = 1024000 bytes

  4. 1024 × 1024 = 1048576 bytes

Or is 2. and 3. not accepted so 1 MB could mean either only 1000000 bytes of 1048576 bytes?

5

7 Answers

First, there are two types of prefix when talking about digital information (read bytes): SI prefixes and binary prefixes.

Must Read

SI prefixes

SI prefixes are powers of 1,000 (1,0001, 1,0002, 1,0003, etc.):

  • 1 kB = 1 kilobyte = 1,0001 bytes = 1,000 bytes;
  • 1 MB = 1 megabyte = 1,0002 bytes = 1,000,000 bytes;
  • 1 GB = 1 gigabyte = 1,0003 bytes = 1,000,000,000 bytes;
  • and so on.

As you can see, only SI symbols mega and above are capitalized. Therefore, KB is not a valid prefix.

Elena Rostova

Elena Rostova

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Elena Rostova holds a Master's degree in Public Health Journalism. She covers groundbreaking medical research, holistic wellness trends, mental health awareness, and nutritional science.