Mebibyte
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| SI prefixes | Binary prefixes | |||
| Name (Symbol) |
Standard SI |
Alternate Use |
Name (Symbol) |
Value |
| kilobyte (kB) | 103 = 10001 | 210 | kibibyte (KiB) | 210 |
| megabyte (MB) | 106 = 10002 | 220 | mebibyte (MiB) | 220 |
| gigabyte (GB) | 109 = 10003 | 230 | gibibyte (GiB) | 230 |
| terabyte (TB) | 1012 = 10004 | 240 | tebibyte (TiB) | 240 |
| petabyte (PB) | 1015 = 10005 | 250 | pebibyte (PiB) | 250 |
| exabyte (EB) | 1018 = 10006 | 260 | exbibyte (EiB) | 260 |
| zettabyte (ZB) | 1021 = 10007 | 270 | zebibyte (ZiB) | 270 |
| yottabyte (YB) | 1024 = 10008 | 280 | yobibyte (YiB) | 280 |
A mebibyte (a contraction of mega binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated MiB.
- 1 MiB = 220 bytes = 1,048,576 bytes = 1,024 kibibytes
- 1 MiB = 1024 (= 210) kibibytes (KiB), and 1024 MiB equal one gibibyte (GiB).
The mebibyte is closely related to the megabyte (MB), which can either be a synonym for mebibyte, or refer to 106 bytes = 1,000,000 bytes, depending on context (see binary prefix for background). The two numbers are relatively close together, but mistaking the two has nevertheless often led to problems. 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. Use of mebibyte and related units is strongly endorsed by IEEE and CIPM.
Mibibyte is a common misspelling, presumably from the "i" in the abbreviation or confusion about how the surrounding prefixes (i.e. "kibi" and "gibi") were actually formed. The "i" in MiB is actually from the end of the prefix. Tebi- and pebi- are similarly abbreviated Ti- and Pi-, but they are not usually misspelled, as storage sizes (and corresponding terms) are currently this large in specialized situations only.
