This is a list of multiples (by orders of magnitude) for digital information storage, measured in bits. This article assumes a descriptive attitude towards terminology, reflecting actual usage by the speakers of the language. That means three things:
- A group of 8 bits in a computer is called a byte. A byte is the most common unit of measurement for computer architectures (megabytes, mebibytes, gigabytes, gibibytes, et cetera).
- In architectures that are 16-bit or 32-bit, which operate on 2 or 4 bytes per clock cycle, that chunk of data is sometimes called a word, although such usage is typically limited to programmers and engineers.
- The decimal prefixes kilo, mega etc. are strictly powers of 10. The powers of 2 are the binary prefixes kibi, mebi etc.
Accordingly, 8192 bits of data are a kibibyte and 8000 bits are a kilobyte.
- 1 kB (kilobyte) = 8000 bits
- 1 KiB (kibibyte) = 8192 bits
- Therefore 1 KiB = 1.024 kB = 1024 bytes
Orders of magnitude (data)
| Binary |
Decimal |
Item |
| Factor |
Term |
Factor |
Term |
| 20 |
bit |
100 |
bit |
1 bit – 0 or 1, false or true, Low or High |
| 21 |
|
2 bits – a crumb (rarely used term) |
| 3 bits – the size of an octal digit |
| 22 |
nibble
(also
spelled
nybble) |
4 bits – (aka "nibble" or "semioctet", rarely used) the size of a hexadecimal digit |
| 5 bits – the size of code points in the Baudot code, used in telex communication |
| 6 bits – the size of code points in the Braille code, a tactile writing system for the blind |
| 7 bits – the size of code points in the ASCII character set |
| 23 |
byte |
8 bits – (a.k.a. "octet") on many computer architectures.
– Equivalent to 1 "word" on 8-bit computers (Apple II, Atari 800, Commodore 64, et al).
– the "word size" (instruction length) for 8-bit console systems including: Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System
|
| 101 |
decabit |
10 bits
– minimum length to store a single group of 3 decimal digits
– minimum bit length to store a single byte with error-correcting memory
– minimum frame length to transmit a single byte with asynchronous serial protocols
|
| 12 bits – wordlength of the PDP-8 of Digital Equipment Corporation (built from 1965 -1990) |
| 24 |
|
16 bits
– in many programming languages, the size of an integer capable of holding 65,536 different values
– Equivalent to 1 "word" on 16-bit computers (IBM PC)
– the "word size" (instruction length) for 16-bit console systems including: Super Nintendo, Mattel Intellivision
|
| 25 |
|
32 bits (4 bytes)
– size of an integer capable of holding 4,294,967,296 different values
– size of an IEEE 754 single-precision floating point number
– size of addresses in IPv4, the current Internet protocol
– Equivalent to 1 "word" on 32-bit computers (Commodore Amiga, Apple Macintosh, Pentium-based PC).
– the "word size" (instruction length) for various console systems including: Sega Genesis, PlayStation, GameCube, Xbox, Wii
|
| 36 bits – size of word on Univac 1100-series computers and Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP-10 |
| 56 bits (7 bytes) – cipher strength of the DES encryption standard |
| 26 |
|
64 bits (8 bytes)
– size of an integer capable of holding 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 different values
– size of an IEEE 754 double-precision floating point number
– Equivalent to 1 "word" on 64-bit computers (Power, PA-Risc, Alpha, Itanium, Sparc, x86-64 PCs and Macintoshes).
– the "word size" (instruction length) for 64-bit console systems including: Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
|
| 80 bits (10 bytes) – size of an extended precision floating point number, for intermediate calculations that can be performed in floating point units of most processors of the x86 family |
| 102 |
hectobit |
100 bits |
| 27 |
|
128 bits (16 bytes)
– size of addresses in IPv6, the emerging Internet protocol
– minimum cipher strength of the Rijndael and AES encryption standards, and of the widely used MD5 cryptographic message digest algorithm
|
| 160 bits – maximum key length of the SHA-1, standard Tiger (hash), and Tiger2 cryptographic message digest algorithms |
| 28 |
|
256 bits (32 bytes) – minimum key length for the recommended strong cryptographic message digests as of 2004[update] |
| 29 |
|
512 bits (64 bytes) – maximum key length for the standard strong cryptographic message digests in 2004 |
| 103 |
kilobit |
1000 bits |
| 210 |
kibibit |
1024 bits (128 bytes) |
| 1288 bits – approximate maximum capacity of a standard magnetic stripe card |
| 211 |
|
2048 bits (256 bytes) |
| 212 |
|
4096 bits (512 bytes) – typical sector size, and minimum space allocation unit on computer storage volumes, with most file systems |
| 4704 bits (588 bytes) – uncompressed single-channel frame length in standard MPEG audio (75 frames per second and per channel), with medium quality 8-bit sampling at 44,100 Hz (or 16-bit sampling at 22,050 Hz) |
| 8000 bits (103 bytes) – one kilobyte |
| 213 |
kibibyte |
8192 bits (1,024 bytes) |
| 9408 bits (1,176 bytes) – uncompressed single-channel frame length in standard MPEG audio (75 frames per second and per channel), with standard 16-bit sampling at 44,100 Hz |
| 104 |
|
15,350 bits – one screen of data displayed on an 8-bit monochrome text console (80x24) |
| 214 |
|
16,384 bits (2 kibibytes) |
| 20,000 bits – approximate amount of information on a sheet of single-spaced typewritten paper |
| 215 |
|
32,768 bits (4 kibibytes) |
| 216 |
|
65,536 bits (8 kibibytes) |
| 105 |
|
100,000 bits |
| 217 |
|
131,072 bits (16 kibibytes) |
| 150 kilobits – approximate size of this article as of 20 April 2007 |
| 218 |
|
262,144 bits (32 kibibytes) |
| 219 |
|
524,288 bits (64 kibibytes) |
| 106 |
megabit |
1,000,000 bits |
| 220 |
mebibit |
1,048,576 bits (128 kibibytes) |
| 1,978,560 bits – a one-page, standard-resolution black-and-white fax (1728 × 1145 pixels) |
| 221 |
|
2,097,152 bits (256 kibibytes) |
| 4,147,200 bits – one frame of uncompressed NTSC DVD video (720 × 480 × 12 bpp Y'CbCr) |
| 222 |
|
4,194,304 bits (512 kibibytes) |
| 4,976,640 bits – one frame of uncompressed PAL DVD video (720 × 576 × 12 bpp Y'CbCr) |
| 8,343,400 bits – one "typical" sized photograph with reasonably good quality (1024 × 768 pixels). |
| 223 |
mebibyte |
8,388,608 bits (1024 kibibytes) |
| 107 |
|
11,520,000 bits – capacity of a lower-resolution computer monitor (as of 2006), 800 × 600 pixels, 24 bpp |
| 11,796,480 bits – capacity of a 3.5 in floppy disk, colloquially known as 1.44 megabyte but actually 1.44 × 1000 × 1024 bytes |
| 224 |
|
16,777,216 bits (2 mebibytes) |
| 25 megabits – amount of data in a typical color slide |
| 32,582,657 bits – size of the largest known Mersenne prime: All of its bits are 1. |
| 225 |
|
33,554,432 bits (4 mebibytes) |
| 55,296,000 bits – capacity of a high-resolution computer monitor as of 2007, 1920 × 1200 pixels, 24 bpp |
| 50–100 megabits – amount of information in a typical phone book |
| 226 |
|
| 108 |
|
| 67,108,864 bit (8 mebibytes) |
| 227 |
|
134,217,728 bits (16 mebibytes) |
| 150 megabits – amount of data in a large foldout map |
| 228 |
|
268,435,456 (32 mebibytes) |
| 423,360,000 bits: a five-minute audio recording, in CDDA quality |
| 229 |
|
536,870,912 bits (64 mebibytes) |
| 109 |
gigabit |
1,000,000,000 bits |
| 230 |
gibibit |
1,073,741,824 bits (128 mebibytes) |
| 231 |
|
2,147,483,648 bits (256 mebibytes) |
| 232 |
|
4,294,967,296 bits (512 mebibytes) |
| 5.45×109 bits (650 mebibytes) – capacity of a regular compact disc |
| 5.89×109 bits (702 mebibytes) – capacity of a large regular compact disc |
| 6.4×109 bits – capacity of the human genome, 3.2×109 base pairs (Each pair encodes two bits of data.) |
| 233 |
gibibyte |
8,589,934,592 bits (1024 mebibytes) |
| 1010 |
|
10,000,000,000 bits |
| 234 |
|
17,179,869,184 bits (2 gibibytes) |
| 235 |
|
34,359,738,368 bits (4 gibibytes) |
| 4.04×1010 bits (4.7 gigabytes) – capacity of a single-layer, single-sided DVD |
| 236 |
|
68,719,476,736 bits (8 gibibytes) |
| 1011 |
|
100,000,000,000 bits |
| 237 |
|
137,438,953,472 bits (16 gibibytes) |
| 1.46×1011 bits (17 gigabytes) – capacity of a double-sided, dual-layered DVD |
| 2.15×1011 bits (25 gigabytes) – capacity of a single-sided, single-layered 12-cm Blu-ray disc |
| 238 |
|
274,877,906,944 bits (32 gibibytes) |
| 239 |
|
549,755,813,888 bits (64 gibibytes) |
| 1012 |
terabit |
1,000,000,000,000 bits (125 gigabytes) |
| 240 |
tebibit |
1,099,511,627,776 bits (128 gibibytes) more than 137 gigabytes |
| 1.6×1012 bits (200 gigabytes) – capacity of a hard disk that would be considered average as of 2008[update] |
| 241 |
|
2,199,023,255,552 bits (256 gibibytes) |
| (approximately) 4.12×1012 bits – as of 2002[update], data of π to the largest number of digits ever calculated (1.24×1012) |
| 242 |
|
4,398,046,511,104 bits (512 gibibytes) |
| 243 |
tebibyte |
8,796,093,022,208 bits (1024 gibibytes) |
| 1013 |
|
10,000,000,000,000 bits (1.25 terabytes) – capacity of a human being's functional memory, according to Raymond Kurzweil in The Singularity Is Near, p. 126 |
| 244 |
|
17,592,186,044,416 bits (2 tebibytes) |
| 245 |
|
35,184,372,088,832 bits (4 tebibytes) |
| 246 |
|
70,368,744,177,664 bits (8 tebibytes) |
| 1014 |
|
100,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 247 |
|
140,737,488,355,328 bits (16 tebibytes) |
| 1.5×1014 bits (18.75 terabytes) – amount of text in the Library of Congress, if it were all digitized |
| 248 |
|
281,474,976,710,656 bits (32 tebibytes) |
| 249 |
|
562,949,953,421,312 bits (64 tebibytes) |
| 1015 |
petabit |
1,000,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 250 |
pebibit |
1,125,899,906,842,624 bits (128 tebibytes) |
| 2.4×1015 bits (300 terabytes) – size of the Internet Archive in As of 2004[update] |
| 251 |
|
2,251,799,813,685,248 bits (256 tebibytes) |
| 252 |
|
4,503,599,627,370,496 bits (512 tebibytes) |
| 8,000,000,000,000,000 bits (1015 bytes) – one petabyte |
| 253 |
pebibyte |
9,007,199,254,740,992 bits (1024 tebibytes) |
| 1016 |
|
10,000,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 254 |
|
18,014,398,509,481,984 bits (2 pebibytes) |
| 255 |
|
36,028,797,018,963,968 bits (4 pebibytes) |
| 4.5×1016 bits (5.625 petabytes) – estimated hard drive space in Google's server farm in As of 2004[update] |
| 256 |
|
72,057,594,037,927,936 bits (8 pebibytes) |
| 1017 |
|
100,000,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 257 |
|
144,115,188,075,855,872 bits (16 pebibytes) |
| 258 |
|
288,230,376,151,711,744 bits (32 pebibytes) |
| 259 |
|
576,460,752,303,423,488 bits (64 pebibytes) |
| 8 ×1017, the storage capacity of the fictional Star Trek character Data |
| 1018 |
exabit |
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 260 |
exbibit |
1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bits (128 pebibytes) |
| 1.6×1018 bits (200 petabytes) – total amount of printed material in the world |
| 261 |
|
2,305,843,009,213,693,952 bits (256 pebibytes) |
| 262 |
|
4,611,686,018,427,387,904 bits (512 pebibytes) |
| 263 |
exbibyte |
9,223,372,036,854,775,808 bits (1024 pebibytes) |
| 1019 |
|
10,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 264 |
|
18,446,744,073,709,551,616, bits (2 exbibytes) |
| 265 |
|
36,893,488,147,419,103,232, bits (4 exbibytes) |
| 266 |
|
73,786,976,294,838,206,464, bits (8 exbibytes) |
| 1020 |
|
100,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 267 |
|
147,573,952,589,676,412,928 bits (16 exbibytes) |
| 268 |
|
295,147,905,179,352,825,856 bits (32 exbibytes) |
| 269 |
|
590,295,810,358,705,651,712 bits (64 exbibytes) |
| 1021 |
zettabit |
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 270 |
zebibit |
1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bits (128 exbibytes) |
| 271 |
|
2,361,183,241,434,822,606,848 bits (256 exbibytes) |
| 272 |
|
4,722,366,482,869,645,213,696 bits (512 exbibytes) |
| 273 |
zebibyte |
9,444,732,965,739,290,427,392 bits (1024 exbibytes) |
| 1022 |
|
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits |
| 1.8×1022 bits (2.25 zettabytes) – amount of information that can be stored in 1 gram of DNA |
For comparison's sake, the Avogadro constant is 6.02214179(30)×1023 entities per mole, based upon the number of atoms in 12 grams of carbon.
External links
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