Computer Information - kb, KB, Mb, GB

Abbreviations like Kb, KB, Mb and GB

Are often confused, misunderstood or used incorrectly. Here's a brief explanation of proper usage.

Let's start at the beginning. The only data that a computer can understand is on and off. But those two simple commands can be grouped into millions of combinations and it is the way they are grouped in series that creates complex data.

The basic unit is called a bit (binary digit). Each bit has an electronic switch, or gate. If the gate is open the bit is on and electricity can go through. The computer reads on or open switches as a number 1. If the gate is closed or off, the electricity is blocked and the computer reads off bits as 0.

Bits can be grouped together to allow more complex code. Eight bits are grouped together to form a byte. This allows 256 possible combinations of 1/0. The abbreviation for bit is a lowercase "b"; the abbreviation for byte is an uppercase "B". Bits and bytes can then be expressed in larger measurements. They are generally expressed in exponents of two, known as binary code.

The Standards

Although computer data is normally measured in binary code, the prefixes for the multiples are based on the metric system. The nearest binary number to 1,000 is 2^10 or 1,024; thus 1,024 bytes was named a Kilobyte. So, although a metric "kilo" equals 1,000 (e.g. one kilogram = 1,000 grams), a binary "Kilo" equals 1,024 (e.g. one Kilobyte = 1,024 bytes). Not surprisingly, this has led to a great deal of confusion.

In December 1998, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) approved a new IEC International Standard. Instead of using the metric prefixes for multiples in binary code, the new IEC standard invented specific prefixes for binary multiples made up of only the first two letters of the metric prefixes and adding the first two letters of the word "binary". Thus, for instance, instead of Kilobyte (KB) or Gigabyte (GB), the new terms would be kibibyte (KiB) or gibibyte (GiB).