About Data Storage Converter
Data Storage Converter moves an amount of data between seven units, from bits through bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes and petabytes. It is useful for reconciling a file size quoted in one unit with a quota or a transfer allowance expressed in another.
The first thing to understand is the counting convention. This tool uses powers of 1024, so one kilobyte is 1024 bytes and one gigabyte is 1073741824 bytes. That is the convention operating systems use when they report file sizes. Storage manufacturers, however, tend to use powers of 1000, where a gigabyte is exactly a billion bytes — which is why a drive sold as one terabyte shows up as roughly 931 gigabytes in your file manager. The discrepancy is about seven percent, and it is a naming difference rather than a defect in either figure.
The result is a bare number with no unit attached, so read it against whichever unit you selected in the second list. Bits and bytes are both offered, and the ratio between them is eight, which is the one conversion here that is decimal rather than a power of 1024.
The counting convention is fixed at powers of 1024, so the matching set of decimal units — the ones a storage vendor or a network specification is likely to mean — cannot be selected, and an exact byte count for a manufacturer's figure has to be worked out separately. There is nothing beyond petabytes, which rules out exabyte and zettabyte scales without manual scaling. The page also does not recognise the IEC names for the 1024-based units, so sizes cannot be entered or reported as kibibytes or mebibytes even though those are the correct labels for the convention in use. Transfer rates are not handled either: converting a size to bits is offered, but not to bits per second against a duration, and no combined readout shows the same amount in all seven units.
How to use Data Storage Converter
- 1 Enter the amount of data to convert.
- 2 Select the source unit from bits up to petabytes.
- 3 Select the target unit and run the tool to see the converted figure.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my drive hold less than its advertised size?
Because the manufacturer counted in powers of 1000 while your operating system reports in powers of 1024. A nominal terabyte is a trillion bytes, and the same quantity is about 931 gibibytes when divided by 1024 repeatedly. Both numbers are correct under their own convention.
How many bits are in a byte?
Eight, almost always. This tool uses the standard eight-bit byte, which is the only conversion here based on a decimal ratio rather than a power of 1024. Data transmission speeds are often quoted in bits per second, so this ratio is worth remembering.
Is a kilobyte 1000 or 1024 bytes?
It depends on who is speaking. Strictly, the 1024-based unit is the kibibyte and the 1000-based one is the kilobyte, but common usage blurs them. This tool applies the 1024 convention, matching how operating systems report file sizes.
Can it express a value in bits?
Yes, bits is the smallest unit offered. Converting a file size to bits is handy when you want to compare it against a network speed, since connection rates are usually given in bits per second rather than bytes per second.
Free, online, and private
Free to use
Data Storage Converter is completely free. There is no account to create, no login, and no hidden charge or usage limit.
Runs online in your browser
It is a free online tool that runs entirely in your browser. Nothing to download or install — open the page and start using it right away.
Your data stays private
All processing happens locally on your device. Your input is never uploaded, stored, or tracked, so it never leaves your browser.
How Data Storage Converter behaves in detail
These are the specifics of this implementation — the exact ranges, defaults and fixed settings you are working with.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Units covered | 7 — bit, byte, KB, MB, GB, TB and PB |
| Conversion basis | byte — a bit is stored as 0.125 of one |
| Ladder step | powers of 1024, so 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes despite the KB/MB/GB labels |
| Arithmetic applied | (value × from-unit factor) ÷ to-unit factor |
| Result precision | 8 decimal places, from a starting Value of 1 |
| Default pair | GB → MB |
Compiled from the implementation of this tool and checked against it by itoolnet.
What Data Storage Converter does not do
Knowing the edges of a tool saves more time than another list of its features. These are the cases where it will not do what you might expect.
- Every step is a power of 1024 rather than 1000, even though the labels read KB, MB and GB. A drive sold as 1 TB of 10¹² bytes therefore converts here to 0.9095 TB, so the figure will not match the number on the packaging, and nothing in the output flags the convention being used.
- The largest integer a JavaScript double holds exactly is 2^53, which on this scale is precisely 8 PB. From 8 PB upward the byte count stops being exact, so petabyte conversions can drift by a few bytes with no warning printed anywhere in the result.
- Bits are available only as a single unit. There is no kilobit, megabit or gigabit, no kibibyte or MiB spelling to mark the binary prefixes, and no per-second variant, so a link speed quoted in Mbps has to go through Data Transfer Rate instead of being converted on this page.
Tested and documented by itoolnet, the team that builds and maintains this site.