BITS

A bit, or binary digit, is a 1 or 0. Bits are very small, and are rarely seen on a computer alone. They are usually bundled into bytes.

BYTES

A byte is 8 bits. One byte can hold the alphabet A-Z and 1-9. A byte is also rarely seen alone.

KILOBYTES

A kilobyte is 1,000 bytes and 8,000 bits. Although kilobytes are used a lot, they can be bundled into megabytes.

MEGABYTES

A megabyte is the same as 1,000 kilobytes. Five megabytes can hold the complete works of Shakespeare.

GIGABYTE

Gigabytes are huge! 2 gigabytes can hold 20 meters of shelved books. 1,000 megabytes is equal to 1 gigabyte.

THE TRUE CALCULATIONS

While all the calculations below are close, they are not exact.