The size of a digital file can be measured in a number of different units. The measurements for files are:
Unit of measurement
Abbreviation
Conversion
bit
b
1 bit
nibble
-
4 bits (or half a byte)
Byte
B
8 bits
Kilobyte
KB
1024 bytes
Megabyte
MB
1024 kilobytes (or 1048576 bytes)
Gigabyte
GB
1024 megabytes
Terabyte
TB
1024 gigabytes
Petabyte
PB
1024 terabytes
Unit of measurement
bit
Abbreviation
b
Conversion
1 bit
Unit of measurement
nibble
Abbreviation
-
Conversion
4 bits (or half a byte)
Unit of measurement
Byte
Abbreviation
B
Conversion
8 bits
Unit of measurement
Kilobyte
Abbreviation
KB
Conversion
1024 bytes
Unit of measurement
Megabyte
Abbreviation
MB
Conversion
1024 kilobytes (or 1048576 bytes)
Unit of measurement
Gigabyte
Abbreviation
GB
Conversion
1024 megabytes
Unit of measurement
Terabyte
Abbreviation
TB
Conversion
1024 gigabytes
Unit of measurement
Petabyte
Abbreviation
PB
Conversion
1024 terabytes
Storage space
Different types of data require different amounts of storage space.
For example: One ASCIIAmerican Standard Code for Information Interchange. A 7-bit character set used for representing English keyboard characters. character in a text file (e.g., 'A') will need 1 byte for storage and the word 'Digital Technology' in a document will require 18 bytes of storage (17 letter characters and 1 space character = 18).
What is a word?
WordThe maximum number of bits a computer can process at one time size refers to the maximum number of bits a CPU can process at a time. Most CPUs use a much bigger word size than 8 bits.
32-bit/64-bit CPUs can handle 32 bits/64 bits of information at one time. Modern PCs have a 64-bit processor. A 64-bit CPU can handle numbers larger than 18 quintillion (as 264 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,615).
