What are megabytes and megabits?

A megabyte is a unit that describes how many bytes are used to represent data. A byte represents one piece of data, usually one character. A byte is made of 8 bits, and a bit (binary digit) is the fundamental base unit of digital data, a 0 or 1. A byte is made of 8 bits, and a kilobyte (KB) is 1024 bytes. A megabyte (MB) is 1024 kilobytes, or 1048576 bytes. Bytes and megabytes describe the size of data.

These units are used in reference to file sizes or the storage capacities of devices and hard disk drives.

A "megabit" describes how fast data travels over a connection. A "megabit" is a short way to say "Megabits per second." It is similar to "bits per second," the number of bits that go through a connection in a second. Remember, a bit is one eighth of a byte. Kilobits per second describe how many thousands (exactly 1000) of bits go through in a second. Megabits per second tell how many millions (an even 1,000,000) travel in a second. These units describe the speed that data travels or the rate of data transfer.

Megabytes and Megabits per second describe two different things, and cannot be used interchangeably.

You can calculate how long a file of a given megabyte size will take to download at a given Megabits-per-second speed. Multiply megabytes by 1048576 (Kilobytes by 1024) to determine how many bytes of data you want. Multiply the number of bytes by 8 (8 bits make a byte) to find the number of bits in the file. Divide the number of bits by the bits per second rate (kilobits and megabits mean 1000 bits and 1 million bits respectively) to find how many seconds it will take.

First answer by ID1378480869. Last edit by Amarok-er. Contributor trust: 1 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 248 [recommend question]