MB vs GB Explained Simply
3 min read
Kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes โ data storage units can be confusing. Here is a plain-English guide to what they mean and how they relate to the files you use every day.
The Scale
1 TB = 1,000 GB = 1,000,000 MB
Each step up is roughly 1,000ร larger
- โถ 1 KB (kilobyte) = 1,000 bytes โ a short text message
- โถ 1 MB (megabyte) = 1,000 KB โ a high-quality photo
- โถ 1 GB (gigabyte) = 1,000 MB โ about 250 songs
- โถ 1 TB (terabyte) = 1,000 GB โ about 500 hours of video
Real-World File Sizes
| File Type | Typical Size |
|---|---|
| Text email | 5-20 KB |
| Smartphone photo | 3-8 MB |
| MP3 song (4 min) | 4-5 MB |
| HD movie (2 hrs) | 4-5 GB |
| 4K movie (2 hrs) | 15-25 GB |
| Video game (modern) | 50-150 GB |
Mobile Data Context
With a 5 GB mobile data plan, you can approximately:
- โถ Browse 5,000 web pages
- โถ Stream 5 hours of HD video
- โถ Send 10,000 emails
- โถ Listen to 100 hours of music streaming
Storage vs Speed: MB vs Mb
Watch out for capitalisation:
- โถ MB (capital B) = megabyte = storage size
- โถ Mb (lowercase b) = megabit = speed measurement
- โถ 8 megabits = 1 megabyte
- โถ So 100 Mbps internet downloads at ~12.5 MB per second
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