Data Storage Converter

Decimal and binary units side by side, because the 7% gap between them is the reason your new drive looks smaller than the box promised.

Decimal units count in thousands (1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes). Binary units count in 1024s (1 MiB = 1,048,576 bytes). Both are in daily use, which is the whole problem.

Converted

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Megabytes (MB)—
Gigabytes (GB)—
Terabytes (TB)—
Mebibytes (MiB)—
Gibibytes (GiB)—
Tebibytes (TiB)—

What the box says vs what your computer shows

Drive makers count a gigabyte as 1,000,000,000 bytes. Windows reports the same bytes in gibibytes but labels them “GB”. Nothing is missing — the two are counting in different bases.

AdvertisedReported by WindowsApparent shortfall
120 GB111.8 GB6.87%
256 GB238.4 GB6.87%
500 GB465.7 GB6.87%
1 TB931.3 GB6.87%
2 TB1,863 GB6.87%
4 TB3,725 GB6.87%
8 TB7,451 GB6.87%

Related calculators

Two definitions of a gigabyte, both in daily use

A gigabyte can mean 1,000,000,000 bytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes depending on who is counting. Storage manufacturers use the decimal definition, because powers of ten are what SI prefixes have always meant. Operating systems historically used powers of two, because memory addressing is binary.

1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes  |  1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 bytes  |  difference = 7.37%

The gap compounds as units get bigger: it is 2.4% at kilobytes, 4.9% at megabytes, 7.4% at gigabytes and 10% at terabytes. That is why a 1 TB drive shows as roughly 931 GB in Windows, and why the shortfall looks worse on larger drives.

Who uses which

In 1998 the IEC introduced explicit binary prefixes — kibi, mebi, gibi, tebi — so that KiB, MiB and GiB could mean powers of two unambiguously. macOS and Linux distributions have largely moved to decimal reporting, so a 1 TB drive shows as 1 TB there. Windows still reports binary values under decimal labels, which is where most of the confusion originates.

Bytes and bits are not the same

Storage is measured in bytes; connection speeds are measured in bits, and there are eight bits to a byte. A 100 Mbit/s connection therefore downloads at a maximum of about 12.5 MB per second, before protocol overhead. The capital B versus lowercase b is doing a lot of work in those abbreviations.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my 1 TB drive only show 931 GB?
Nothing is missing. The manufacturer counts 1 TB as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Windows divides that by 1024 three times to get gibibytes but labels the result 'GB', giving 931. The drive holds exactly what was advertised.
What is the difference between GB and GiB?
A gigabyte (GB) is 1,000,000,000 bytes. A gibibyte (GiB) is 1,073,741,824 bytes, or 2^30. A GiB is about 7.4% larger. The GiB notation was standardised by the IEC in 1998 specifically to remove this ambiguity.
How many MB are in a GB?
1000 MB in a decimal gigabyte, or 1024 MiB in a binary gibibyte. Which one applies depends on whether the figure came from a drive manufacturer or an operating system.
How many bytes are in a bit?
It is the other way round: there are 8 bits in a byte. Connection speeds are quoted in bits per second and file sizes in bytes, so a 100 Mbit/s line transfers at most about 12.5 MB per second.
Do macOS and Windows report storage differently?
Yes. Since OS X 10.6, macOS reports storage in decimal units, so a 1 TB drive shows as 1 TB. Windows reports binary values labelled as GB, so the same drive shows as 931 GB. The hardware is identical.

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