- In most computer systems, a byte is a unit of data that is eight

binary digits long. A byte is the unit most computers use to

represent a character such as a letter, number, or typographic
symbol (for example, "g", "5", or "?"). A byte can also hold a
string of bits that need to be used in some larger unit for
application purposes (for example, the stream of bits that constitute
a visual image for a program that displays images or the string of
bits that constitutes the machine code of a computer program).

In some computer systems, four bytes constitute a word, a unit that

a computer processor can be designed to handle efficiently as it
reads and processes each instruction. Some computer processors
can handle two-byte or single-byte instructions.

A byte is abbreviated with a "B". (A bit is abbreviated with a small

"b".) Computer storage is usually measured in byte multiples. For
example, an 820 MB hard drive holds a nominal 820 million bytes
- or megabytes - of data. Byte multiples are based on powers of 2
and commonly expressed as a "rounded off" decimal number. For
example, one megabyte ("one million bytes") is actually 1,048,576
(decimal) bytes. (Confusingly, however, some hard disk
manufacturers and dictionary sources state that bytes for computer
storage should be calculated as powers of 10 so that a megabyte
really would be one million decimal bytes.)

Some language scripts require two bytes to represent a character.

These are called double-byte character sets (DBCS).

Kilo, mega, giga, tera, and peta are among the list of prefixes that
are used to denote the quantity of something, such as, in computing
and telecommunications, a byte or a bit. Sometimes called prefix
multipliers, these prefixes are also used in electronics and physics.
Each multiplier consists of a one-letter abbreviation and the prefix
that it stands for.
Prefix Symbol(s) Power of 10 Power of 2
yocto- y 10-24 * --
zepto- z 10-21 * --
atto- a 10-18 * --
femto- f 10-15 * --
In
pico- p 10 -12 *
-- communications,
electronics, and
nano- n 10-9 * -- physics,
micro- µ 10-6 * -- multipliers are
defined in powers
milli- m 10-3 * -- of 10 from 10-24 to
centi- c 10-2 * -- 1024, proceeding
in increments of
deci- d 10-1 * -- three orders of
(none) -- 100 20 magnitude (103 or
1,000). In IT and
deka- D 101 * -- data storage,
multipliers are
hecto- h 102 * --
defined in powers
kilo- k or K ** 103 210 of 2 from 210 to
280, proceeding in
mega- M 106 220 increments of ten
giga- G 109 230 orders of
10
magnitude (2 or
tera- T 1012 240 1,024). These
peta- P 1015 250 multipliers are
denoted in the
exa- E 1018 * 260 following table.
zetta- Z 1021 * 270
yotta- Y 1024 * 280
* Not generally used to express data speed
** k = 103 and K = 210
Examples of quantities or phenomena in which power-of-10 prefix
multipliers apply include frequency (including computer clock
speeds), physical mass, power, energy, electrical voltage, and
electrical current. Power-of-10 multipiers are also used to define
binary data speeds. Thus, for example, 1 kbps (one kilobit per
second) is equal to 103, or 1,000, bps (bits per second); 1 Mbps
(one megabit per second) is equal to 106, or 1,000,000, bps. (The
lowercase k is the technically correct symbol for kilo- when it
represents 103, although the uppercase K is often used instead.)

When binary data is stored in memory or fixed media such as a

hard drive, diskette, ZIP disk, tape, or CD-ROM, power-of-2
multipliers are used. Technically, the uppercase K should be used
for kilo- when it represents 210. Therefore 1 KB (one kilobyte) is
210, or 1,024, bytes; 1 MB (one megabyte) is 220, or 1,048,576
bytes.

The choice of power-of-10 versus power-of-2 prefix multipliers

can appear arbitrary. It helps to remember that in common usage,
multiples of bits are almost always expressed in powers of 10,
while multiples of bytes are almost always expressed in powers of
2. Rarely is data speed expressed in bytes per second, and rarely is
data storage or memory expressed in bits. Such usages are
considered improper. Confusion is not likely, therefore, provided
one adheres strictly to the standard usages of the terms bit and
byte.

Kibi, mebi, gibi, tebi, pebi, and exbi are binary prefix multipliers
that, in 1998, were approved as a standard by the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in an effort to eliminate the
confusion that sometimes occurs between decimal (power-of-10)
and binary (power-of-2) numeration terms.
At present, the prefix multipliers kilo- (k or K), mega- (M), giga-
(G), tera- (T), peta- (P), and exa- (E) are ambiguous. In most of the
physical sciences, and when describing quantities of objects
generally, these multipliers refer to powers of 10. However, when
used to define data quantity in terms of bytes, they refer to powers
of 2. The following table denotes the most often-used prefixes and
their meanings.

Prefix Symbol(s) Power of 10 Power of 2

kilo- k or K ** 103 210
mega- M 106 220
giga- G 109 230
tera- T 1012 240
peta- P 1015 250
exa- E 1018 * 260
* Not generally used to express data speed
** k = 103 and K = 210

The power-of-10 multipliers and the power-of-2 multipliers for a

given word prefix are almost, but not quite, the same. For example,
the power-of-10 definition of kilo- (k) refers to 1,000, while the
power-of-2 definition (K) refers to 1,024. As if this is not
confusing enough, when referring to a data speed of one kilobit per
second (1 kbps), analysts generally mean 1,000 bits per second
(103 bps), but when talking about one kilobyte (1 KB) of data
storage, they usually mean 1,024 bytes (210 B). This prevailing
confusion could be eliminated (some computer scientists believe)
by adopting special prefixes referring to the binary quantities. The
proposed scheme is as follows.
Full technical Proposed Proposed Numeric
name prefix symbol multiplier
kilobinary kibi- Ki 210
megabinary mebi- Mi 220
gigabinary gibi- Gi 230
terabinary tebi- Ti 240
petabinary pebi- Pi 250
exabinary exbi- Ei 260

In scenarios such as the one mentioned above, if the new binary

prefixes are used, it should be easy to know whether an engineer is
talking or writing about the decimal or binary multiplier. We will
know that one kilobit per second (1 kbps) means 1,000 bps, and
one kibibyte (1 KiB) means 1,024 bytes, for example.

As of this writing, the binary prefix multipliers have not yet come
into general use.

Pronunciation: Based on a suggestion from NIST, "the first

syllable of the name of the binary-multiple prefix should be
pronounced in the same way as the first syllable of the name of the
corresponding International Standard (SI) prefix, and the second
syllable should be pronounced as 'bee.'" Thus, "kibi" would be
pronounced "KIH-bee"; "mebi" would be "MEH-bee", and so
forth.