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The mebibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix mebi means 220, therefore 1 mebibyte is 1048576bytes. The unit symbol for the mebibyte is MiB.[1] The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 2000 and has been accepted for use by all major standards organizations. It was designed to replace the megabyte used in some computer science contexts to mean 220 bytes, which is similar to but conflicts with the SI definition of the prefix mega (106).
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| SI decimal prefixes | IEC binary prefixes | |||
| Name (Symbol) |
Value | Name (Symbol) |
Value | |
| kilobyte (kB) | 103 | kibibyte (KiB) | 210 = 1.024 × 103 | |
| megabyte (MB) | 106 | mebibyte (MiB) | 220 ≈ 1.049 × 106 | |
| gigabyte (GB) | 109 | gibibyte (GiB) | 230 ≈ 1.074 × 109 | |
| terabyte (TB) | 1012 | tebibyte (TiB) | 240 ≈ 1.100 × 1012 | |
| petabyte (PB) | 1015 | pebibyte (PiB) | 250 ≈ 1.126 × 1015 | |
| exabyte (EB) | 1018 | exbibyte (EiB) | 260 ≈ 1.153 × 1018 | |
| zettabyte (ZB) | 1021 | zebibyte (ZiB) | 270 ≈ 1.181 × 1021 | |
| yottabyte (YB) | 1024 | yobibyte (YiB) | 280 ≈ 1.209 × 1024 | |
| See also: Multiples of bits · Orders of magnitude of data | ||||
Contents |
[edit] Definition
The prefix mebi is a binary prefix derived from the words mega and binary, indicating its origin in the closeness in value to the SI prefix mega. One mebibyte (MiB) is 220 (i.e., 1024 x 1024) bytes,[2] or 1048576bytes. One MiB differs from one megabyte (MB), which means 106 (i.e. 1000 x 1000 = 1000000bytes).
Mebibyte is not commonly used. Instead, megabyte is often used to mean 1000 x 1000, 1024 x 1024, and even 1000 x 1024 bytes. Such usage can be confusing and inconsistent. For example, Microsoft's Windows XP operating system shows a file of 220 bytes as "1.00 MB" in its file properties dialog, while showing a file of 106 (1000000) bytes as 976 kB; but Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 would report a 106 byte file as 1 MB.[3]
[edit] History
Confusion in the meaning of megabyte was evident for many years. For instance, the 1.44 MB floppy disk's storage capacity was calculated using 1024000bytes per "MB" (i.e. 1.44×1024×1000), rather than 1.47 MB (1.47×1000×1000) or 1.40 MiB (1.40×1024×1024).
The mebi- prefix was defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in December 1998. Its use (and related units) is presently endorsed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) in contexts where use of a binary prefix makes sense.
In The Art of Computer Programming, Donald Knuth proposed that the mebibyte be called a large megabyte (abbreviated MMB).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ International Electrotechnical Commission (2010-01). "IEC 60050 - International Electrotechnical Vocabulary - Details for IEV number 112-01-27". http://www.electropedia.org/iev/iev.nsf/display?openform&ievref=112-01-27. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
- ^ "Definition of NIST binary". Ziff-Davis. 2010. http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=mebi&i=55970,00.asp. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
- ^ "How Mac OS X reports drive capacity". Apple Inc. 2009-08-27. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2419. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
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