Data Storage Converter
Instantly convert between Bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes, and Petabytes.
Result
1,000 Megabyte (MB)
1 Gigabyte (GB) = 1,000 Megabyte (MB)
Common Data Storage Conversions
| From | To |
|---|---|
| 1 KB | 1,000 B |
| 1 MB | 1,000 KB |
| 1 GB | 1,000 MB |
| 1 TB | 1,000 GB |
| 1 PB | 1,000 TB |
| 1 GB | 1,000,000 KB |
Decimal vs. Binary: SI and IEC Units
One of the most common sources of confusion in data storage is the difference between decimal (SI) and binary (IEC) units. In the decimal system used by storage manufacturers and the International System of Units, 1 kilobyte (KB) equals exactly 1,000 bytes, 1 megabyte (MB) equals 1,000,000 bytes, and so on with each prefix representing a factor of 1,000. However, computers operate in binary, and historically the same prefixes were used to represent powers of 2: 1 "kilobyte" meant 1,024 bytes (2¹⁰), 1 "megabyte" meant 1,048,576 bytes (2²⁰), and so on. To resolve this ambiguity, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) introduced binary prefixes in 1998: kibibyte (KiB) for 1,024 bytes, mebibyte (MiB) for 1,048,576 bytes, gibibyte (GiB) for 1,073,741,824 bytes, and so forth. This is why a hard drive advertised as 500 GB (decimal) shows approximately 465 GiB when formatted by your operating system, which uses binary calculations.
A Brief History of Digital Storage
The history of digital storage is a remarkable story of exponential progress. In the 1950s, IBM introduced the first commercial hard disk drive, the IBM 350, which stored approximately 3.75 megabytes and was the size of two refrigerators. Punch cards, magnetic tape, and drum memory were the primary storage media of the era. The 1970s and 1980s saw the rise of floppy disks -- first the 8-inch format, then 5.25-inch, and finally the iconic 3.5-inch floppy that stored 1.44 MB. Compact Discs (CDs) arrived in the 1980s with 700 MB capacity, followed by DVDs (4.7 GB) in the 1990s and Blu-ray discs (25-50 GB) in the 2000s. Flash-based storage, from USB drives to solid-state drives (SSDs), has revolutionized both portable and internal storage since the 2000s, offering speeds and durability that mechanical hard drives cannot match.
The Explosive Growth of Data Storage
The amount of data generated and stored globally has grown at a staggering pace. In 2010, the total amount of data in the world was estimated at about 2 zettabytes (2 trillion gigabytes). By the mid-2020s, that figure has surged past 100 zettabytes, driven by social media, streaming video, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, scientific research, and enterprise data. To put this in perspective, one zettabyte is equal to one billion terabytes, or one trillion gigabytes. Consumer storage has kept pace: modern smartphones ship with 128 GB to 1 TB of internal storage, and external SSDs offering multiple terabytes are commonplace and affordable. Enterprise and hyperscale data centers now deploy storage arrays measured in petabytes and even exabytes to power cloud services, artificial intelligence training, and big data analytics.
The Cloud Storage Era
Cloud storage has fundamentally transformed how individuals and organizations manage data. Services like Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, and Amazon S3 allow users to store files on remote servers and access them from any device with an internet connection. For consumers, free tiers typically offer 5 to 15 GB of storage, while paid plans provide 100 GB to multiple terabytes. For enterprises, cloud storage eliminates the need to purchase and maintain physical hardware, offering virtually unlimited capacity that scales on demand. Understanding data storage units is essential when evaluating cloud plans, estimating backup requirements, or calculating the cost of storing large datasets. Whether you are comparing a 200 GB iCloud plan to a 2 TB Google One subscription, or sizing an AWS S3 bucket for a petabyte-scale data lake, our data storage converter helps you instantly translate between units so you can make informed decisions about your storage needs.