A mebibyte (a contraction of mega binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated MiB. A bit is a binary digit, taking a value of either 0 or 1 Binary digits are a basic unit of Information storage and communication A byte (pronounced "bite" baɪt is the basic unit of measurement of information storage in Computer science. An SI prefix (also known as a metric prefix) is a name or associated symbol that precedes a unit of measure (or its symbol to form a Decimal multiple or Kilo- (symbol k is a prefix in the SI and other systems of units denoting 103 or 1000 Mega- (symbol M) is an SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 106, 1000000 (one Million For other meanings see Giga (disambiguation Giga- (symbol G is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 109 teras- (symbol T) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 1012, or 1000000000000 (1 trillion In Physics and Mathematics, peta- (symbol P) is a prefix in the SI ( System of units) denoting 1015 exa- (symbol E) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 1018 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 zetta- (symbol Z) is an SI prefix in the SI ( System of units) denoting 1021 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 yotta- (symbol Y) is an SI prefix in the SI ( System of units) denoting 1024 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 IEC 60027 (formerly IEC 27) is the International Electrotechnical Commission 's standard on Letter symbols to be used in electrical technology. JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, formerly known as J oint E lectron D evice E ngineering C ouncil ( JEDEC) or Joint Information as a concept has a diversity of meanings from everyday usage to technical settings Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to Computer components devices and recording media that retain digital

1 MiB = 2²⁰ bytes = 1,048,576 bytes = 1,024 kibibytes

The mebibyte is closely related to the megabyte (MB), which can be a synonym for mebibyte, or refer to 10⁶ bytes = 1,000,000 bytes, or even refer to 1,000 times 1,024 bytes, depending on context (see binary prefix for background). A byte (pronounced "bite" baɪt is the basic unit of measurement of information storage in Computer science. A kibibyte (a contraction of ki lo bi nary byte) is a unit of Information or Computer storage, established by the International A megabyte is a unit of Information or Computer storage equal to either 106 (1000000 Bytes or 220 (1048576 bytes depending on In computing binary prefixes are names or associated symbols that can precede a unit of measure (such as a Byte) to indicate multiplication by a power of two The 1. 44 MB floppy disk's storage capacity is calculated using 1,024,000 bytes per "MB" (e. A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased g. 1. 44 times 1024 times 1000), rather than 1. 44 mebibytes (1. 44 times 1,048,576). The three numbers are relatively close together, but mistaking the three has nonetheless led to consumer confusion and even legal disputes. A gigabyte (derived from the SI prefix Giga-) is a unit of Information or Computer In computing binary prefixes are names or associated symbols that can precede a unit of measure (such as a Byte) to indicate multiplication by a power of two There are times when it is necessary to know the exact size of a file, for example, or exactly how much space remains on a storage device.

The unit was defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in December 1998. The International Electrotechnical Commission ( IEC) is a not-for-profit, non-governmental international Standards organization that prepares and publishes Use of mebibyte and related units is endorsed by IEEE and CIPM in contexts where use of a binary prefix makes sense, in order to protect the unambiguous decimal meaning of the "mega" prefix. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE (read eye-triple-e) is an international Non-profit, professional organization The International Committee for Weights and Measures is the English name of the Comité international des poids et mesures ( CIPM, sometimes written in English The binary unit is in wide use by the consumer software industry, but use of the "mebi-" prefix is not. This leads to confusion where 2²⁰ (1,048,576) bytes is displayed as 1 MB instead of 1 MiB. For example, the operating system Windows XP will show a file of 2²⁰ bytes as "1. An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination Windows XP is a family of 32-bit and 64-bit Operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on Personal computers including home and 00 MB" in its file properties dialog. In Graphical user interfaces a dialog (or dialogue) box is a special window, used in user interfaces to display Information to the Likewise, a file of 10⁶ (1,000,000) bytes is reported as "976 KB".

See also

• Megabyte
• Mebibit
• Kibibyte
• Gibibyte
• Binary prefix
• SI prefix
• IEEE 1541
• Orders of magnitude (data)

External links

• NIST Prefixes for binary multiples
• IEC Prefixes for binary multiples