Kibibit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SI prefixes | Binary prefixes | |||
| Name (Symbol) |
Standard SI |
Rare usage |
Name (Symbol) |
Value |
| kilobit (kb) | 103 | 210 | kibibit (Kibit) | 210 |
| megabit (Mb) | 106 | 220 | mebibit (Mibit) | 220 |
| gigabit (Gb) | 109 | 230 | gibibit (Gibit) | 230 |
| terabit (Tb) | 1012 | 240 | tebibit (Tibit) | 240 |
| petabit (Pb) | 1015 | 250 | pebibit (Pibit) | 250 |
| exabit (Eb) | 1018 | 260 | exbibit (Eibit) | 260 |
| zettabit (Zb) | 1021 | 270 | zebibit (Zibit) | 270 |
| yottabit (Yb) | 1024 | 280 | yobibit (Yibit) | 280 |
A kibibit (a contraction of kilo binary binary digit) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated Kibit, or sometimes Kib. (Note that the abbreviation is capitalized, while kbit is not.)
The kibibit is closely related to the kilobit, which can either be a synonym for kibibit, or refer to 103 bits = 1,000 bits, depending on context.
The National Institute of Science and Technologies notes that "it is important to recognize that the new prefixes for binary multiples are not part of the International System of Units (SI), the modern metric system." It should also be noted that they are not in general use among professional software and electrical engineers, who generally use decimal prefixes when referring to binary quantities.
