Kilobyte (kB)
A kilobyte is 1000 bytes in the decimal (SI) sense used by disk makers, macOS and network tools. Windows and some older texts use “KB” for 1024 bytes, which is properly a kibibyte (KiB).
Symbol: kB
Quantity: amount of digital information
SI relation: 1 kB = 8000 bit (exact)
Derivation: 1 kB = 1000 bytes = 8000 bits (decimal, SI).
Exact: yes, by definition
Typical uses
- Small files, emails and web pages
- Image thumbnails
- Download sizes
Convert kilobytes to other units
| Conversion | 1 kB equals | Reverse |
|---|---|---|
| kilobyte to byte | 1000 B | byte to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to megabyte | 0.001 MB | megabyte to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to gigabyte | 0.000001 GB | gigabyte to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to terabyte | 1 × 10⁻⁹ TB | terabyte to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to bit | 8000 bit | bit to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to megabit | 0.008 Mbit | megabit to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to kibibyte | 0.9765625 KiB | kibibyte to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to mebibyte | 0.0009536743164 MiB | mebibyte to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to gibibyte | 9.313225746 × 10⁻⁷ GiB | gibibyte to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to kilobit | 8 kbit | kilobit to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to gigabit | 0.000008 Gbit | gigabit to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to petabyte | 1 × 10⁻¹² PB | petabyte to kilobyte |
| kilobyte to tebibyte | 9.094947018 × 10⁻¹⁰ TiB | tebibyte to kilobyte |
Open the Data Storage Converter to convert any value between all units.
Sources
- The International System of Units (SI), 9th edition (SI Brochure), Bureau International des Poids et Mesures , Table 7 (SI prefixes); hertz, Table 4.
Last reviewed: . Factors are stored exactly and computed with 50-digit decimal arithmetic. See how we verify conversion factors.
Cite this page
APA
Scientific Converters. (2026, October 15). Kilobyte (kB). Retrieved October 25, 2026, from https://scientificconverters.com/units/kilobyte/
IEEE
Scientific Converters, "Kilobyte (kB)," scientificconverters.com. Accessed: Oct. 25, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://scientificconverters.com/units/kilobyte/