Gibibyte

Multiples of bytes
Decimal Value Metric 1000 kB kilobyte 1000^2 MB megabyte 1000^3 GB gigabyte 1000^4 TB terabyte 1000^5 PB petabyte 1000^6 EB exabyte 1000^7 ZB zettabyte 1000^8 YB yottabyte	Binary Value IEC JEDEC 1024 KiB kibibyte KB kilobyte 1024^2 MiB mebibyte MB megabyte 1024^3 GiB gibibyte GB gigabyte 1024^4 TiB tebibyte – 1024^5 PiB pebibyte – 1024^6 EiB exbibyte – 1024^7 ZiB zebibyte – 1024^8 YiB yobibyte –
Orders of magnitude of data

The gibibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix gibi means 2³⁰, therefore one gibibyte is equal to 1073741824bytes = 1024 mebibytes. The unit symbol for the gibibyte is GiB. It is a member of the set of units with binary prefixes defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).^[1]

The gibibyte is very closely related to the gigabyte (GB). The GB is defined by the IEC as 10⁹ bytes = 1000000000bytes, 1GiB ≈ 1.074GB. 1024 gibibytes are equal to one tebibyte. In the context of computer memory, Gigabyte and GB are customarily used to mean 1024³ (2³⁰) bytes, although not in the context of data transmission and not necessarily in the context of hard drive size.^[2] The word gibibyte was coined in 1998.^[3]

Binary prefixes are increasingly used in technical literature and open source software, and are a component of the International System of Quantities.^[4]

This unit can be used for measuring computer, smartphone and tablet RAM.

See also

• Gibibit
• IEEE 1541
• IEC 80000-13
• Orders of magnitude (data)
• SI prefix

References

1. "Prefixes for binary multiples". NIST. 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2007.
2. "Gigabyte, usage note". American Heritage Dictionary. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
3. International Electrotechnical Commission (January 1999), IEC 60027-2 Amendment 2: Letter symbols to be used in electrical technology - Part 2: Telecommunications and electronics.
4. "IEC 80000-13:2008". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 21 July 2013.