Data sizes

Packages: ARITHMETIC_PACKAGE, FUNCTION_PACKAGE, CONVERTERS_PACKAGE, UOM_PACKAGE, BIGINT_PACKAGE. Registered by createEngine(); for a slimmer engine, register them explicitly (see choosing packages).

A data size is measured in bytes and bits, with prefixes like kilo, mega and giga that come in two flavours: decimal (a kilobyte is 1,000 bytes) and binary (a kibibyte is 1,024). Solve treats them as ordinary units and keeps the two apart, so a conversion means exactly what it says.

Byte and bit units are ordinary units, so they convert like any other measurement. Decimal and binary prefixes are both there and are kept distinct: kB is 1,000 bytes and KiB is 1,024.

1 kB in bytes // 1,000.00 bytes
1 KiB in bytes // 1,024.00 bytes
1 GB in MB // 1,000.00 MB
1 TiB in GiB // 1,024.00 GiB
1 byte in bits // 8.00 bits
1.5 MB in KB // 1,500.00 KB

Case matters, and it matters more here than almost anywhere: MB is megabytes and Mb is megabits, a factor of eight apart.

1 GB in bits // 8,000,000,000.00 bits
1 Gb in Mb // 1,000.00 Mb

Bandwidth and transfer time

Bandwidth is a data rate, bits (or bytes) a second: Mbps, Gbps, kbps, and the byte forms MBps, GBps. A data size at a bandwidth is the time the transfer takes.

4 GB at 50 Mbps // 10.67 min
2 GB at 1 Gbps // 16.00 s

The bit/byte distinction rides the unit’s case here too: 50 Mbps is megabits a second, 50 MBps megabytes, eight times as fast.

See units and conversions for the full list.