home > Utilities > What internet speed is enough? Megabits and Megabytes: what's the difference? 20 megabytes per second is how many megabits.

What internet speed is enough? Megabits and Megabytes: what's the difference? 20 megabytes per second is how many megabits.

At higher levels of network models, a larger unit is typically used - bytes per second(B/c or Bps, from English b ytes p er s second ) equal to 8 bit/s.

Derived units

To denote higher transmission speeds, larger units are used, formed using the prefixes of the C system kilo-, mega-, giga- etc. getting:

Kilobits per second- kbit/s (kbps)
Megabits per second- Mbit/s (Mbps)
Gigabits per second- Gbit/s (Gbps)

Unfortunately, there is ambiguity regarding the interpretation of prefixes. There are two approaches:

kilobit is treated as 1000 bits (according to SI, as kilo gram or kilo meter), megabit as 1000 kilobits, etc.
A kilobit is interpreted as 1024 bits, incl. 8 kbps = 1 KB/s (not 0.9765625).

To unambiguously designate a prefix divisible by 1024 (and not 1000), the International Electrotechnical Commission came up with the prefixes “ kibi"(abbreviated Ki-, Ki-), « furniture"(abbreviated Mi-, Mi-) etc.

1 byte- 8 bits
1 kibibit- 1024 bits - 128 bytes
1 mebibit- 1048576 bits - 131072 bytes - 128 kbytes
1 Gibibit- 1073741824 bits - 134217728 bytes - 131072 kbytes - 128 MB

The telecommunications industry has adopted the SI system for the prefix kilo. That is, 128 Kbit = 128000 bits.

Common mistakes

Beginners often get confused kilobits c kilobytes, expecting a speed of 256 KB/s from a 256 kbit/s channel (on such a channel the speed will be 256,000 / 8 = 32,000 B/s = 32,000 / 1,000 = 32 KB/sec).
Bauds and bits/c are often (wrongly or intentionally) confused.
1 kbaud (as opposed to kbit/s) is always equal to 1000 baud.

Let's take a closer look at how many megabits are in a megabyte.

The smallest measurement of speed or size is Bit, followed by Byte, etc. Where, in 1 byte there are 8 bits, that is, when you say 2 bytes, you are actually saying 16 bits. When you say 32 bits, you are actually saying 4 bytes. That is, such measures as bytes, kbits, kbytes, mbits, mbytes, gbits, gigabytes, etc. were invented so that there would be no need to pronounce or write long numbers.

Just imagine that these units of measurement did not exist, how would the same gigabyte be measured in this case? Since 1 gigabyte is equal to 8,589,934,592 bits, isn’t it more convenient to say 1 GB than to write such long numbers.

We already know what 1 bit is and what 1 byte is. Let's go further.

There is also a unit of measurement “kbit” and “kbyte”, as they are also called “kilobit” and “kilobyte”.

Where, 1 kbit is 1024 bits, and 1 kbyte is 1024 bytes.

1 kbyte = 8 kbits = 1024 bytes = 8192 bits

In addition, there are also “mbits” and “megabytes”, or as they are also called “megabits” and “megabytes”.

Where, 1 Mbit = 1024 kBits, and 1 MB = 1024 Kbytes.

It follows from this that:

1 MB = 8 MB = 8192 KB = 65536 KB = 8388608 bytes = 67108864 bits

If you think about it, everything becomes simple.

Now can you guess how many megabits are in a megabyte?

It will be difficult the first time, but you will get used to it. Try to take the easy way:

1 megabyte = 1024 kbytes = 1048576 bytes = 8388608 bits = 8192 kbits = 1024 kbytes = 8 Mbits
That is, 1 megabyte = 8 megabits.
Likewise, 1 kilobyte = 8 kilobits.
As in 1 byte = 8 bits.

Isn't it easy?

So, for example, you can find out the time it takes for you to download this or that file. Let's say the speed of your Internet connection is 128 kilobytes per second, and the file you download on the Internet weighs 500 megabytes. How long do you think it will take to download the file?
Let's do the math.

To find out, you just need to understand how many kilobytes are in 500 megabytes. This is easy to do, just multiply the number of megabytes (500) by 1024, since there are 1024 kilobytes in 1 megabyte. We get the number 512000, this is the number of seconds in which the file will be downloaded, taking into account the connection speed of 1 kilobyte per second. But, our speed is 128 kilobytes per second, so we divide the resulting number by 128. That leaves 4000, this is the time in seconds for which the file will be downloaded.

Converting seconds to minutes:

4000 / 60 = ~66.50 minutes

Convert to hours:

~66.50 / 60 = ~1 hour 10 minutes

That is, our file of 500 megabytes in size will be downloaded in 1 hour 10 minutes, taking into account that the connection speed throughout the entire time will be exactly 128 kilobytes
per second, which equals 131,072 bytes, or, to be more precise, 1,048,576 bits.

Question from a user

Hello.

Please tell me, I have an Internet channel of 15/30 Megabit/s, files in uTorrent are downloaded at a speed of (approximately) 2-3 MB/s. How can I compare the speed, is my Internet provider cheating me? How many Megabytes should there be at a speed of 30 Megabit/s? Confused about the quantities...

Good day!

This question is very popular; it is asked in different interpretations (sometimes very threateningly, as if someone had deceived someone). The bottom line is that most users confuse different units : like grams and pounds (also Megabits and Megabytes) ...

In general, to solve this problem you will have to resort to a short excursion into a computer science course, but I will try not to be boring ☺. Also in the article, I will also discuss all the issues related to this topic (about speed in torrent clients, about MB/s and Mbit/s).

Note

Educational program on Internet speed

And so, with ANY Internet provider(at least, I personally haven’t seen others) Internet connection speed is indicated in Megabit/s(and pay attention to the prefix "BEFORE"- no one guarantees that your speed will always be constant, because... this is impossible).

In any torrent program(in the same uTorrent), by default, the download speed is displayed in MB/s (Megabytes per second). That is, I mean that Megabyte and Megabit are different quantities.

Usually, the declared speed in your tariff is enough Internet provider in Mbit/s, divide by 8 to get the speed that uTorrent (or its analogues) will show you in MB/s (but see more about this below, there are nuances ☺).

For example, the tariff speed of the Internet provider about which the question was asked is 15 Mbit/s. Let's try to put it in a normal way...

Important! (from a computer science course)

The computer does not understand numbers; only two values are important to it: there is a signal or there is no signal (i.e. " 0 " or " 1 "). These are either yes or no - that is, "0" or "1" is called " Bit" (minimum unit of information).

In order to be able to write any letter or number, one unit or zero will clearly not be enough (it will definitely not be enough for the entire alphabet). It was calculated to encode all the necessary letters, numbers, etc. - a sequence of 8 Bit.

For example, this is what the code for the English capital "A" looks like - 01000001.

And so the code for the number “1” is 00110001.

These ones 8 Bits = 1 Byte(i.e. 1 Byte is the minimum data element).

Regarding consoles (and derivatives):

1 Kilobyte = 1024 Bytes (or 8*1024 Bits)
1 Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes (or KB/KB)
1 Gigabyte = 1024 Megabytes (or MB/MB)
1 Terabyte = 1024 Gigabytes (or GB/GB)

Mathematics:

One Megabit is equal to 0.125 Megabytes.
To achieve transfer speeds of 1 Megabyte per second, you will need an 8 Megabit per second network connection.

In practice, they usually do not resort to such calculations; everything is done simpler. The declared speed of 15 Mbit/s is simply divided by 8 (and ~5-7% is subtracted from this number for the transfer of service information, network load, etc.). The resulting number will be considered the normal speed (an approximate calculation is shown below).

15 Mbps / 8 = 1.875 MB/s

1.875 MB/s * 0.95 = 1.78 MB/s

In addition, I would not discount the load on the Internet provider's network during peak hours: in the evenings or on weekends (when a large number of people use the network). This can also seriously affect access speeds.

Thus, if you are connected to the Internet at a rate of 15 Mbit/s, and your download speed in the torrent program shows about 2 MB/s, everything is very good with your channel and Internet provider ☺. Usually, the speed is less than declared (my next question is about this, a couple of lines below)...

Typical question. Why is the connection speed 50-100 Mbps, but the download speed is very low: 1-2 MB/s? Is the Internet provider to blame? After all, even according to rough estimates, it should be no lower than 5-6 MB/s...

I'll try to break it down point by point:

firstly, if you carefully look at the contract with the Internet provider, you will notice that you were promised access speed "UP TO 100 Mbit/s" ;
secondly, in addition to your access speed, it is very important where do you download the file(s) from?. Let's say, if the computer (from which you download the file) is connected via low-speed access, say 8 Mbit/s, then your download speed from it is 1 MB/s, in fact, the maximum! Those. First, try downloading the file from other servers (torrent trackers);
thirdly, perhaps you already have some kind of the program downloads something else. Yes, the same Windows can download updates (if in addition to your PC, you have a laptop, smartphone, etc. devices connected to the same network channel - look at what they are doing...). In general, check how your Internet channel is loaded;
it is possible that in the evening hours (when the load on the Internet provider increases) there are “drawdowns” (you are not the only one who decided to download something interesting at this time ☺);
if you are connected via a router, check that too. It often happens that inexpensive models slow down the speed (sometimes they simply reboot), in general, they simply cannot cope with the load...
check driver for your network card(for example, to the same Wi-Fi adapter). I have encountered the situation several times: after on the network card (90% of the drivers for the network adapter are installed by Windows itself when installing it), access speed increased significantly! The default drivers that come with Windows are not a panacea...

However, I do not exclude the possibility that your Internet provider (with old equipment, clearly inflated tariffs, which are only theoretically available on paper) may be the culprit for the low access speed. Simply, to begin with, I would like you to pay attention to the above points...

Another typical question. Why then indicate the connection speed in Mbit/s, when all users are guided by MB/s (and in programs it is indicated in MB/s)?

There are two points:

When transferring information, not only the file itself is transferred, but also other service information (some of which is less than a byte). Therefore, it is logical (and in general, historically) that the connection speed is measured and indicated in Mbit/s.
The higher the number, the stronger the advertising! Marketing has not been canceled either. Many people are quite far from network technologies, and seeing that somewhere the number is higher, they will go there and connect to the network.

My personal opinion: for example, it would be nice if providers indicated next to Mbit/s the real data download speed that the user will see in uTorrent. Thus, both the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe ☺.

By the way, for anyone who is dissatisfied with their Internet access speed, I recommend reading this article: .

Additions on the topic are welcome...

Modern users of telecom equipment often see a symbol in the characteristics of equipment and tariff plans for data transmission and ask the question “Mbps - what does it mean?” Mbps (megabits per second, or Mbps) is a unit of measurement for network throughput. Each megabit is equal to 1 million bits. Mbps refers to a family of metrics used to measure throughput and data transfer speeds. A megabit is a million binary pulses, or 1,000,000 pulses (bits). For example, a carrier's telephone line supports a data transfer rate of 1.544 megabits per second—meaning the line can transmit up to 1.544 Mbps.

Mbps - what does this mean for data transfer speed?

An important characteristic is that adding additional bandwidth does not guarantee faster network transfers, which includes download speeds. Bandwidth is a measurement of network capacity, that is, the maximum amount of data that can be transferred in one second. Factors such as congestion and latency can slow down your connection speed or cause fluctuations. Internet service providers and network equipment vendors often advertise a certain number of Mbps, which indicates a theoretical maximum that is unlikely to be reached at any time outside the laboratory.

Mbps - what is it? Conversion of indicators

The file download time can be determined using the formula. For example, to download 100 MB of audio files over a 100 Mbps Internet connection, you need to perform the following calculations to help determine the approximate download time of the audio file:

Convert megabytes to file size (100 MB) to megabits: 100 × 8 = 800 megabits.
Divide this amount by the connection speed (100 Mbps): 800 ÷ 100 = 8 seconds.

How are Mbps network connections classified?

Different data transfer rates in Mbps - what does this mean? Among Internet service providers, the most common formats are 8, 16, 32, 50 and 100 Mbps.

Among network equipment vendors, devices such as switches are often advertised as “10/100 Mbps,” meaning that its ports can support 10 and 100 Mbps.

Which is greater, Mbit or MByte?

1MB = 8Mbit

Megabit is the amount of information, 106 or 1,000,000 (million) bits. The abbreviation Mbit is used or, in Russian notation, Mbit or MB (megabit should not be confused with megabyte MB). In accordance with the international standard IEC 60027-2, the units bits and bytes are used with SI prefixes. A megabit is equal to 125,000 eight-bit bytes, 125 kilobytes (kB) or approximately 122 kibibytes (KiB).

Megabit is commonly used to refer to the speed of data transfer in computer or telecommunications networks. For example, a 100 Mbps (megabits per second) Fast Ethernet connection or a 10 Mbps Internet connection.

A megabit should not be confused with a megabyte; one megabit is equal to 0.125 megabytes. The speed of information transfer over a network is often measured in megabits, and the sizes of files transferred over these networks are usually measured in megabytes. So, to achieve a transfer speed of 1 megabyte per second, you will need a network connection with a speed of at least 8 megabits per second.

The binary interpreted analogue of a megabit - mebibit contains 1048576 (220) bits.

Megabyte (MB, MB) is a unit of measurement of the amount of information, equal, depending on the context, to 1,000,000 (106) or 1,048,576 (220) bytes [

The term megabyte is common, but does not correspond to GOST 8.417-2002, where the prefix mega means multiplication by 106 (1,000,000), and not 220 (1,048,576). Some corporations that produce hard drives take advantage of this situation, and when labeling their products, a megabyte means 1,000,000 bytes. According to the IEC proposal, the binary prefix mebi- is proposed for 220.

The most original interpretation of the term megabyte is used by manufacturers of CDs, DVDs and computer floppy disks, who understand it as 1,024,000 bytes. Thus, a floppy disk that says it has a capacity of 1.44 MB actually holds only 1440 KB, which is 1.38 MB in the usual sense.

For these, as well as a number of other reasons, identically labeled storage media may have different byte capacities.

Source: Wikipedia

1 byte = 8 bits, 1 kb = 1024 bytes, 1 mb = 1024 kb, 1 gb = 1024 mb, 1 terabyte = 1024 gb.
-----------------------
1 byte = 8 bits
1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes
1 megabyte = 1,048,576 bytes
1 gigabyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes
1 terabyte = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes
1 petabyte = 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes
1 exabyte = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes
1 zettabyte = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bytes
1 yottabyte = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes
=======================================
1 megabit = 128 kilobytes
10 megabits = 1.28 megabytes
25 megabits = 3.2 megabytes

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