We use Megabytes (MB) and Mebibytes (MiB) units to measure storage capacity and data transfer rate. The main difference between these units is that a megabyte is a multiple of 1,000, and a mebibyte is a multiple of 1,024.
Generally, we use units in a multiple of 1000. For example, we use the Liter and Gram to measure the weight of liquid and solid substances. Both use a multiple of 1000 to refer to things. There are 1000 grams in a Kilogram. In a Liter, there are 1000 Milliliters. Similarly, we use Meters to measure the length. There are 1000 Meters in a Kilometer.
Bytes is a unit computers use to measure disk space and data transfer speed. Since most commonly used units are available in multiples of 1000, many hardware vendors also use bytes in a multiple of 1000. But that is not the correct way to refer to bytes. Computers use bytes in a multiple of 1024.
The following table compares the units computers and hardware vendors use.
| Units hardware vendors use | Units computers use | ||||
| Unit | Name | Value | Unit | Name | Value |
| KB | Kilobyte | 10001 | KiB | Kibibyte | 10241 |
| MB | Megabyte | 10002 | MiB | Mebibyte | 10242 |
| GB | Gigabyte | 10003 | GiB | Gibibyte | 10243 |
| TB | Terabyte | 10004 | TiB | Tebibyte | 10244 |
| PB | Petabyte | 10005 | PiB | Pebibyte | 10245 |
| EB | Exabyte | 10006 | EiB | Exbibyte | 10246 |
| ZB | Zettabyte | 10007 | ZiB | Zebibyte | 10247 |
| YB | Yottabyte | 10008 | YiB | Yobibyte | 10248 |
If we talk about a smaller size, the difference between units is not that important. For example, the difference between a kilobyte (KB) and a kibibyte (KiB) is just 24 bytes.
But if we talk about larger sizes, the difference between the units becomes significant. For example, the difference between a megabyte (MB) and a Mebibyte (MiB) is 24 KiB. Similarly, the difference between a Terabyte(TB) and a Tebibyte(TiB) is 24 GiB. This difference can heavily impact your storage management strategy. For example, you cannot store a 1 GiB movie in a 1 GB hard disk. When purchasing a new storage device, you should always calculate your requirements in GiB or MiB.
