Calculators & ProductivityRuns in your browserNew

Data Storage Converter

Convert decimal and binary storage units.

Runs in your browserUpdated 2026-11-10 Report a problem

What this data storage converter does

Data Storage Converter translates between decimal units that use powers of 1000 and binary units that use powers of 1024. Drive manufacturers label capacity in decimal units; most operating systems report file sizes in binary units, which is why a “500 GB” drive appears as roughly 465 GiB.

The tool shows the converted value and the exact byte count, plus a table of the common units, so you can see where the missing capacity seems to go. No storage is actually lost; the two scales simply use different denominators.

Why use it

Explain why a drive's usable capacity looks smaller than its label.
Convert a file size for an upload limit expressed in another unit.
Compare decimal and binary values in a specification.

How to use it

1Enter the value and choose the source unit.
2Choose the target unit.
3Read the converted value, byte total and the comparison table.

Worked examples

Drive capacity

Input

500 GB → GiB

Output

465.66 GiB · 500,000,000,000 bytes

Upload limit

Input

25 MB → MiB

Output

23.84 MiB

Common mistakes

Assuming GB and GiB are the same unit.
Comparing a decimal capacity with a binary file size and concluding data is missing.
Forgetting that a bit is one eighth of a byte when converting network speeds.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my 1 TB drive show about 931 GB?

The drive holds 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Reporting in binary units divides by 1024 three times, giving about 931 GiB, which some systems still label as GB.

Which unit should I use?

Use decimal units for marketing and storage capacity, and binary units when matching what an operating system reports. State the unit explicitly when precision matters.

Where are data rates?

Data rate is a separate category in the unit converter, because bits per second and bytes per second measure throughput rather than stored size.

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