A byte is a standard unit of digital information made up of 8 bits. It's the basic building block for representing data in computers, where a single byte can typically store one character — such as a letter, number, or symbol.
Bytes are the foundation for measuring file size and storage capacity. Whether you're looking at the size of a text file or the storage available on a USB drive, the number is usually expressed in bytes or its larger multiples: kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and terabytes (TB).
In memory and storage systems, bytes play a critical role in data organization. Operating systems, applications, and databases are designed to read and write data in byte-sized chunks. As a result, understanding how bytes work is key to grasping how digital systems store, transfer, and manage information.
A gigabyte (GB) is a unit of digital storage equal to 1,024 megabytes (MB) or approximately 1 billion bytes. It is a standard measurement used across operating systems, storage devices, and cloud platforms to represent capacity and file size.
Gigabytes are commonly used to describe the size of applications, operating systems, high-resolution media, and storage space. For example, a 4K movie can be 10–20 GB, and smartphones today often come with 64 GB to 512 GB of internal storage.
In both hardware and networking, gigabytes serve as a reference point for system requirements, file transfers, and usage limits. Whether you're managing a cloud backup, downloading large files, or installing software, understanding gigabytes helps gauge how much space or bandwidth is needed.
SI (Base 10):
Formula: Gigabyte = Byte ÷ "Number of Bytes in 1 Gigabyte"
Calculation: 100 × 1.0E-9 = 1.0E-7 Gigabyte
Binary (Base 2):
Formula: Gigabyte = Byte ÷ "Number of Bytes in 1 Gigabyte"
Calculation: 100 × 9.3132257461548E-10 = 9.3132257461548E-8 Gigabyte
| Byte | Gigabyte (Binary) | Gigabyte (SI) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 0 | 0 |