Gigabit
Encyclopedia : G : GI : GIG : Gigabit
| Quantities of bits | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SI prefix (rare binary meaning) | Binary prefix standards from IEC 60027-2 | ||||
| Name | Symbol | Quantity | Name | Symbol | Quantity |
| kilobit | kb | 103 (210) | kibibit | Kibit | 210 |
| megabit | Mb | 106 (220) | mebibit | Mibit | 220 |
| gigabit | Gb | 109 (230) | gibibit | Gibit | 230 |
| terabit | Tb | 1012 (240) | tebibit | Tibit | 240 |
| petabit | Pb | 1015 (250) | pebibit | Pibit | 250 |
| exabit | Eb | 1018 (260) | exbibit | Eibit | 260 |
| zettabit | Zb | 1021 (270) | zebibit | Zibit | 270 |
| yottabit | Yb | 1024 (280) | yobibit | Yibit | 280 |
A gigabit is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated Gbit or sometimes Gb.
1 gigabit = 109 = 1,000,000,000 bits (which is equal to 125 decimal megabytes)
The gigabit is closely related to the gibibit, which is unambiguously equal to 230 bits = 1,073,741,824 bits.
Note that the difference between a billion bits and a gibibit is fully 7%. This is sufficient to make it economically compelling to represent certain classes of storage devices in (true) gigabits or gigabytes rather than gibibits/gibibytes. RAM and Flash chips are usually required to have a capacity that is a power of two, but other devices like disk drives need not.
See also
- gibibit
- gigabyte
- gigabit per second
- binary prefix
- orders of magnitude (data)
- Gigabit ethernet and 10-gigabit Ethernet
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