Converters
Storage Capacity Calculator
Comprehensive multi-unit data storage converter covering 12 standard SI decimal and IEC binary units with simultaneous real-time conversion.
Conversion Results (1 GB)
Exact Raw: 1,000,000,000 BytesFundamental binary digit (0 or 1)
8 bits
1,000 Bytes (10³)
1,024 Bytes (2¹⁰)
1,000,000 Bytes (10⁶)
1,048,576 Bytes (2²⁰)
1,000,000,000 Bytes (10⁹)
1,073,741,824 Bytes (2³⁰)
1,000,000,000,000 Bytes (10¹²)
1,099,511,627,776 Bytes (2⁴⁰)
10¹⁵ Bytes
2⁵⁰ Bytes
💡 The Crucial Difference: Decimal (SI) vs. Binary (IEC)
In the International System of Units (SI), prefixes represent powers of 10:
- 1 KB = 1,000 Bytes (10³)
- 1 MB = 1,000,000 Bytes (10⁶)
- 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 Bytes (10⁹)
- 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 Bytes (10¹²)
Used by storage drive manufacturers (WD, Seagate, Samsung), network bandwidth (Mbps), and macOS.
In computer architecture, memory and files are addressed in powers of 2:
- 1 KiB = 1,024 Bytes (2¹⁰)
- 1 MiB = 1,048,576 Bytes (2²⁰)
- 1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 Bytes (2³⁰)
- 1 TiB = 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes (2⁴⁰)
Used by Microsoft Windows, RAM hardware, CPU caches, and Linux kernel utilities.
Advertised vs Real Formatted Storage Reference Table
What a commercially advertised drive actually reports once the capacity is expressed in binary units (what Windows shows, labeled "GB") and after typical file-system overhead. The overhead line is indicative: real losses depend on the file system, partitioning, OS and recovery partitions.
| Advertised (Decimal) | Binary (GiB / TiB) | After Typical OS & File-System Overhead* |
|---|---|---|
| 500 GB | ~465 GiB | ~452–458 GB shown |
| 1 TB | ~931 GiB | ~903–917 GB shown |
| 2 TB | ~1.86 TiB | ~1.78–1.83 TB shown |
| 4 TB | ~3.64 TiB | ~3.52–3.58 TB shown |
| 8 TB | ~7.28 TiB | ~7.03–7.17 TB shown |
*Overhead varies: NTFS reserves ~1.5% of the volume by default, ext4 reserves ~1–5% for root, and OEM recovery or hidden partitions can remove more. Use the converter above with your exact advertised capacity to get the precise binary figure.
The Two Standards Behind Every Result
Every conversion here is computed twice on purpose. The SI decimal row uses powers of 1,000 — the standard storage vendors, cloud bills and network links quote. The IEC binary row uses powers of 1,024 — the standard RAM, caches and most operating-system file listings actually measure in, even when they print "GB" next to the number.
Neither row is "wrong"; they answer different questions. Planning a disk purchase or a cloud bill? Use decimal. Matching what your operating system shows? Use binary. The gap between the two grows with scale: 2.4% at kilobyte, 7.4% at gigabyte, and a full 9.1% at terabyte — which is exactly why a "1 TB" drive reports as 931 "GB" in Windows.
Why GB and GiB Produce Different Results
- Normalizes the input value to exact base bytes.
- Computes simultaneous conversions across SI decimal (powers of 1000) and IEC binary (powers of 1024) standards.
- Highlights the exact discrepancy between disk manufacturer specifications (SI) and OS reporting (IEC).
Real-World Example: A 1 TB Drive
Common Questions
What is the difference between KB and KiB?
KB (Kilobyte) is based on the decimal standard (10^3 = 1,000 bytes) established by the International System of Units (SI). KiB (Kibibyte) is an IEC standard binary prefix equal to 2^10 = 1,024 bytes.
Why does my hard drive show less capacity in Windows?
Hard drive manufacturers market capacity using decimal units (1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes). Microsoft Windows measures and reports capacity in binary gigabytes (Gibibytes, 1,024^3 = 1,073,741,824 bytes) while improperly labeling the unit as "GB".
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