Digital Storage Converter

Digital storage is measured in bytes, with prefixes indicating scale. The confusion arises from two competing systems: decimal (used by storage manufacturers) and binary (used by operating systems). Decimal (SI) system: 1 KB = 1,000 bytes, 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes, 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Hard drive manufacturers use this system. Binary (IEC) system: 1 KiB = 1,024 bytes, 1 MiB = 1,048,576 bytes, 1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 bytes. Operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux) traditionally report storage in binary units but label them GB/MB — causing the apparent discrepancy. The 1TB example: A '1 TB' hard drive contains 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Your OS divides by 1,024³ = 1,073,741,824, giving 931 GiB — displayed as '931 GB'. The drive isn't missing storage — it's a labeling difference. Practical sizes: A typical photo is 3–8 MB. A music track is 5–10 MB. A movie (HD) is 1–4 GB. A game can be 50–150 GB. A 1 TB drive holds roughly 250,000 photos or 500 hours of HD video.