GB to MB Converter

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How Many Mega bytes in a Giga byte? GB to MB Conversion

The quick answer:

* 1 gigabyte is equal to 1,000 megabytes (decimal);

* 1 gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes (binary).

Commonly, 1 gigabyte can be equal to 1,000 megabytes or 1,024 megabytes. There is a slight difference under different measurement systems. Obviously, the direct answer may make you confused about how many mega bytes in a giga byte and the relationship between GB and MB. So, let’s explore deeply. Then, you can calculate them by yourself, and convert GB to MB easily.

GB to MB

Note:

In the past, computers only used base 2 (binary) for file sizes. In December 1998, the IEC introduced a new system that uses the metric system, so the file sizes are calculated using base 10. That’s why you see different results when asking how many MB in one GB, say 1GB=1,000MB or 1GB=1,024MB.

Part 1. What Is Mega byte or Giga byte?

From the very beginning, you need to learn something about bits and bytes. Bits and Bytes are the smallest SI units on the digital data measuring chart.

Data storage applies "Byte" as a unit, while data transmission is mostly based on "bit". A bit is a 0 or 1 (or binary system), and a byte consists of eight bits (1 byte=8 bits). And a bit is the minimum unit of information.

Bit Byte Comparison
Image Credit: teach-ict.com

What is Megabyte?

Megabyte is often used to quantify the size of digital files, such as documents, images, and videos. As technology has advanced, the capacity of storage devices has increased, and the term megabyte is now commonly used to describe a smaller amount of data. One megabyte is equivalent to 1,000 kilobytes or 1/1,000 of a gigabyte.

Technically, Megabyte (MB) is made up of two different terms: Mega and Byte. The prefix Mega refers to 1,000,000 bytes in the metric system. In binary form, one MB stores one million bytes of information, hence 1 MB is equal to 1,024,000 bytes.

  • Megabyte equation in decimal: 1 MB = 1000 KB = 1,000,000 Bytes
  • Megabyte equation in binary: 1 MB = 1024 KB = 1,048,576 Bytes

What is Gigabyte?

A gigabyte (GB) is a unit of digital information storage that represents one billion bytes. It is commonly used to measure the storage capacity of devices, such as hard drives, solid-state drives, memory cards, smartphones, laptops, and desktop computers. One gigabyte is equivalent to 1,000 megabytes or 1/1,000 of a terabyte.

Like Megabyte, Gigabyte (GB) is also made up of two different terms: Giga and Byte. The prefix Giga refers to 1,000,000,000 bytes in the metric system. In binary form, 1GB is equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes.

  • Gigabyte equation in decimal: 1GB = 1000 MB = 1,000,000 KB = 1,000,000 Bytes
  • Gigabyte equation in binary: 1 GB = 1,024 MB = 1,048,576 KB = 1,073,741,824 Bytes

To sum up, Gigabyte (GB) is greater than Megabyte (MB). GB has the prefix Giga meaning 1,000,000,000 bytes in the metric system. MB has the prefix Mega meaning 1,000,000 bytes in the metric system. Gigabyte is 1,000 times bigger than Megabyte.

Notice: Sometimes you may see GiB or MiB abbreviation. Hard disk manufacturers like to use the "GiB" (decimal system), while computer operating systems are based on GB (binary system). So, you can convert GB to MB like below:

  • 1KB(Kibibyte)=1,024byte
  • 1KiB(Kilobyte)=1,000byte
  • 1MB(Mebibyte)=1,048,576byte
  • 1MiB(Megabyte)=1,000,000byte

However, most of the time, we think that 1MiB equals to 1MB (or 1024 KB).

Part 2. How Many Mega bytes Make a Giga byte?

After the explanations in Part 1, you can know that 1GB is equal to how many MBs. In binary terms, 1 GB equals 1,073,741,824 bytes, but in decimal terms, which is commonly used by most manufacturers, 1 GB equals 1,000,000,000 bytes. So, 1 GB is equal to 1,000 MB or 1 GB is equal to 1,024 MB.

Gigabyte in base 10:

  • 1 Gigabyte = 10003 bytes
  • 1 Gigabyte = 1,000 * 1MB
  • 1 Gigabyte = 1,000 Megabytes

Gigabyte in base 2:

  • 1 Gigabyte = 230 bytes
  • 1 Gigabyte = 10243 bytes
  • 1 Gigabyte = 1024 * 10242 bytes
  • 1 Gigabyte = 1024 * 1MB
  • 1 Gigabyte = 1024 MB
  • 1 Gigabyte = 210 megabytes

See also: How Much Is a MB in KB?

Part 3. The Bytes Table for Quick Conversion between MB & GB

To make things easier when you are confused by the conversion between MBs and GBs, you can check the Mega byte and Giga byte conversion table to get answers quickly and easily.

Gigabytes (GB)

Megabytes (MB) decimal

Megabytes (MB) binary

0.5GB

500MB

512MB

1 GB

1,000 MB

1,024 MB

2 GB

2,000 MB

2,048 MB

3 GB

3,000 MB

3,072 MB

4 GB

4,000 MB

4,096 MB

5 GB

5,000 MB

5,120 MB

6 GB

6,000 MB

6,144 MB

7 GB

7,000 MB

7,168 MB

8 GB

8,000 MB

8,192 MB

9 GB

9,000 MB

9,216 MB

10 GB

10,000 MB

10,240 MB

20 GB

20,000 MB

20,480 MB

30 GB

30,000 MB

30,720 MB

40 GB

40,000 MB

40,960 MB

50 GB

50,000 MB

51,200 MB

...

...

...

Also, if you need some examples in daily life, you can also find answers here:

  • 2GB USB flash drive = 2,000 MB
  • A single-layer DVD disc capacity is 4.7 GB = 4700 MB
  • A dual-layered DVD disc capacity is 8.5 GB = 8500 MB
  • A single layer Blu-ray disc capacity is 25 GB = 25,000 MB
  • 1GB = 600 webpages
  • 1GB = 350,000 messages
  • 1GB = 200 songs
  • 1GB = 30 minutes of HD video
  • 1GB = 2 hours of SD video

Part 4. How to Convert GB to MB?

Both gigabytes and megabytes are used to show the size of a typical video, audio file, JPEG image, etc. As the file size is larger and larger, you may need a way to convert a GB to MBs to make it easy to store, share, or upload.

If needed, you can try Winxvideo AI – a video converter & compressor that can be used to compress MP4 file size from GB to MBs, MB to KBs, or 4K to 1080p with a much smaller file size.

Part 5. Frequently Asked Questions

1. How many MB is 1GB of data?

A GB (gigabyte) is a way of measuring how much data you have on an electronic device. 1GB is approximately 1,000MB (megabytes).

2. Which is bigger KB or GB?

GB is bigger than KB. 1,000 bytes is one kilobyte (KB). 1,000 kilobytes is 1 megabyte (MB). 1,000 megabytes is 1 gigabyte (GB). So, 1GB is equal to 1,000,000KB.

3. Is 1GB a lot of storage?

No, 1GB is not enough as files are getting larger and larger. Take video as an example, 1GB can only store 30 minutes of HD video and 2 hours of SD video.

4. How many Gigabytes are in a Terabyte?

In the binary system, there are 1024MB (megabytes) in one GB (gigabyte). There are 1024 gigabytes in a terabyte (TB) and 1024 terabytes in one petabyte (PB).

5. How many bytes are in a megabyte?

The prefix Mega refers to 1,000,000 bytes in the metric system. In the binary system, 1MB equals 1,024,000 bytes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jack Watt

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Jack Watt is a sought-after editor at Digiarty. He is responsible for digital and multimedia world, delivering definitive video and audio related software reviews, enlightening guides, and incisive analysis. As a fan of Apple, Jack Watt also brings his experience to more readers and focuses on writing of the Apple ecosystem at large.

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