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data-storage-converter

A data storage converter translates digital sizes between bits, bytes, and powers-of-1000 (kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes — the "decimal" or "SI" prefix system used by storage marketing and networking) and powers-of-1024 (kibibytes, mebibytes, gibibytes — the "binary" or "IEC" prefix system used by operating systems and memory). The ZTools Data Storage Converter clearly distinguishes both systems, explains why "1 TB hard drive" actually shows up as "931 GB" in your file explorer, and supports bits as well as bytes for networking calculations (where 1 Gbps = 125 MB/s — bits vs bytes confusion is a frequent gotcha).

Use cases​

Understanding hard drive marketing​

"4 TB drive" advertised as 4,000 GB by manufacturer (decimal). Windows shows it as 3.64 TiB (binary). Same drive, different number — the converter explains why.

Network speed planning​

"100 Mbps internet" — that's 12.5 MB/s download speed. Useful for "how long to download a 1 GB file?" calculations.

Cloud storage and quota planning​

AWS S3 bills per GB. Your application logs total ~500 MB/day → 15 GB/month → ~$0.35/month. The converter does the unit chain.

RAM, GPU, and embedded sizing​

A microcontroller has "256 KB" of flash — that's actually 256 × 1024 bytes (binary KB / KiB) in embedded contexts. The converter knows the convention by domain.

How it works​

  1. Pick decimal or binary mode — Decimal: KB = 1000 bytes (storage marketing, networking). Binary: KiB = 1024 bytes (OS, RAM). The default depends on your domain.
  2. Enter a size and unit — b (bits), B (bytes), KB/KiB, MB/MiB, GB/GiB, TB/TiB, PB/PiB.
  3. See conversions to all common units — Single screen shows the source size in bits, bytes, and all prefix levels in both decimal and binary.
  4. Optional: data-rate mode — For network speeds, switch to b/s, kb/s, Mb/s, Gb/s. The converter does bytes ↔ bits arithmetic safely.

Examples​

Input: 1 TB (decimal)

Output: 1,000 GB | 1,000,000 MB | 1,000,000,000 KB | ~931 GiB (binary)

Input: 100 Mbps

Output: 12.5 MB/s = 100 ÷ 8. A 1 GB file downloads in ~80 seconds.

Input: 1 GiB

Output: 1024 MiB | 1,073,741,824 bytes | ~1.074 GB (decimal)

Frequently asked questions​

What's the difference between KB and KiB?

KB = 1000 bytes (decimal, SI prefix). KiB = 1024 bytes (binary, IEC prefix). Storage marketing uses KB; OS file sizes typically use KiB but display them as KB. The 2.4% difference compounds: 1 TB vs 1 TiB differs by ~10%.

Why does my 4 TB drive show only 3.64 TiB in Windows?

Manufacturer's 4 TB = 4,000,000,000,000 bytes (decimal). Windows shows it in binary: 4 × 10¹² ÷ 1,099,511,627,776 ≈ 3.64 TiB. No data is "missing"; the prefixes just disagree.

Bits or bytes for network speed?

Bits per second (Mbps, Gbps) for advertised speed. Bytes per second (MB/s) for actual file transfer. Conversion: divide bits by 8 to get bytes. So 100 Mbps = 12.5 MB/s.

What does Gb (lowercase) vs GB mean?

Gb = gigabits (10⁹ bits). GB = gigabytes (10⁹ bytes = 8 × 10⁹ bits). Network: usually bits. Storage: usually bytes. Always check the case carefully.

How do I estimate file size for video?

Rough: 1 hour of 1080p video ≈ 1-3 GB depending on bitrate. 4K ≈ 5-10 GB/hour. Audio: 1 hour MP3 320kbps ≈ 144 MB. The converter helps pick storage estimates.

Tips​

  • When precision matters (databases, billing), specify decimal or binary explicitly with the prefix (KiB/KB).
  • For network speeds, always think in bits; for file sizes, in bytes. Mixing them produces 8× errors.
  • Storage manufacturers use decimal because it makes drive capacities look bigger.
  • For RAM and OS-reported sizes, default to binary; for marketing and networking, decimal.

Try it now​

The full data-storage-converter runs in your browser at https://ztools.zaions.com/data-storage-converter — no signup, no upload, no data leaves your device.

Open the tool ↗

Last updated: 2026-05-05 · Author: Ahsan Mahmood · Edit this page on GitHub