Megabytes (MB) to Megabits (Mbit) Conversion
Megabytes
The megabyte (MB) is a unit of digital information equal to 1,000,000 bytes (10⁶ bytes) in the SI decimal definition, or 1,048,576 bytes in binary convention. A minute of CD-quality audio requires approximately 10 MB uncompressed; a typical JPEG photograph ranges from 2 to 8 MB; a standard definition video runs roughly 1 GB per hour. The megabyte was the dominant storage unit for personal computers throughout the 1980s and 1990s before the gigabyte became standard.
Megabits
The megabit (Mbit) is a unit of digital information equal to exactly 1,000,000 bits (10⁶ bits). It is the standard unit for expressing internet connection speeds: a "100 Mbps" broadband connection transfers 100 million bits per second, equivalent to 12.5 megabytes (MB/s). This factor-of-8 difference between megabits and megabytes is a frequent source of consumer confusion when comparing marketed connection speeds against actual file download rates.
| Megabytes (MB) | Megabits (Mbit) |
|---|---|
| 0.1 MB | 0.8 Mbit |
| 1 MB | 8 Mbit |
| 2 MB | 16 Mbit |
| 3 MB | 24 Mbit |
| 5 MB | 40 Mbit |
| 10 MB | 80 Mbit |
| 20 MB | 160 Mbit |
| 30 MB | 240 Mbit |
| 50 MB | 400 Mbit |
| 100 MB | 800 Mbit |
| 1000 MB | 8000 Mbit |