Choose a Measurement
Select a measurement and convert between different units
Single conversion
To convert from Gigabyte (GB) to Gibibyte (GiB), use the following formula:
With is the ratio between the base units Kibibyte (KiB) and Byte (byte).
Let's convert 5 Gigabyte (GB) to Gibibyte (GiB).
Using the formula:
Therefore, 5 Gigabyte (GB) is equal to Gibibyte (GiB).
Here are some quick reference conversions from Gigabyte (GB) to Gibibyte (GiB):
| Gigabytes | Gibibytes |
|---|---|
| 0.000001 GB | GiB |
| 0.001 GB | GiB |
| 0.1 GB | GiB |
| 1 GB | GiB |
| 2 GB | GiB |
| 3 GB | GiB |
| 4 GB | GiB |
| 5 GB | GiB |
| 6 GB | GiB |
| 7 GB | GiB |
| 8 GB | GiB |
| 9 GB | GiB |
| 10 GB | GiB |
| 20 GB | GiB |
| 30 GB | GiB |
| 40 GB | GiB |
| 50 GB | GiB |
| 100 GB | GiB |
| 1000 GB | GiB |
| 10000 GB | GiB |
For all Digital converters, choose units using the From/To dropdowns above.
Ever wondered what a gigabyte (GB) really means when you're buying a new phone, choosing a mobile data plan, or saving a file? A gigabyte is one of the most common measurements of digital capacity.
In this guide, we'll break down exactly what a GB is, what you can fit into it, and why the storage space you buy isn't always what you see on your device.
A gigabyte (GB) is a unit of digital data storage, equal to one billion bytes. The plural form is gigabytes.
While a gigabyte (GB) is commercially defined as 1 billion bytes (109 bytes), operating systems like Windows often measure storage using a binary system.
In this system, the correct term is a gibibyte (GiB), which is equal to 230 or 1,073,741,824 bytes.
This ~7.4% difference is why a hard drive advertised as 500 GB might appear as only 465 GiB on your computer.
This discrepancy exists because manufacturers sell storage using the decimal system (powers of 10), while most operating systems measure it using the binary system (powers of 2).
A single gigabyte (1GB) offers a substantial amount of storage for everyday use.
For perspective, 1 GB can typically hold:
This capacity makes it a standard unit for measuring file sizes, app downloads, and mobile data plans.
In the early 1980s, a gigabyte of storage was an immense, costly amount of data, primarily found in multi-million dollar supercomputers.
The first gigabyte-capacity hard disk drive, IBM's 3380, was released in 1980. It weighed over 500 pounds and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Today, gigabytes are a routine measure for devices that fit in our pockets, such as smartphones, SD cards, and USB drives, showcasing the exponential growth of data technology.
A gibibyte (GiB) is a unit of measurement for digital data.
While it sounds complex, understanding it is the key to solving a common tech mystery: why the storage space on your new device or hard drive often looks smaller than what was advertised on the box.
Have you ever purchased a 500 gigabyte (GB) hard drive, only to find that your computer reports it as having only 465 GB of storage capacity?
You haven't been short-changed. The difference comes down to two different ways of counting:
Gigabyte (GB): This is the unit manufacturers use for marketing. It's a simple, round number based on the decimal (base-10) system.
Gibibyte (GiB): This is the unit your computer's operating system (like Windows or macOS) often uses for measurement. It is based on the binary (base-2) system, which is the native language of computers.
This means a gibibyte is about 7.4% larger than a gigabyte.
So, your 500 GB hard drive has exactly 500,000,000,000 bytes, but when your computer measures those bytes using the binary system, it calculates it as approximately 465 GiB.
The amount of storage is the same—only the unit of measurement has changed.
To clear up this exact confusion, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) officially introduced the term "gibibyte" in 1998.
It was created along with other binary-based prefixes (like kibi-, mebi-, and tebi-) to create a clear standard and separate the binary measurements used in computing from the decimal measurements used in marketing and general communication.
Knowing where to expect each term can help you avoid confusion:
You will see Gigabytes (GB) used most often in marketing and sales, such as on the packaging for hard drives, SSDs, smartphones, and when describing mobile data plans.
You will encounter Gibibytes (GiB) inside software environments. Operating systems, file size information, and memory (RAM) specifications use GiB to give a more precise measurement that aligns with the computer's binary architecture.
In short, the next time you see a difference in your storage numbers, you'll know it's not a mistake—it's just the language of computers at work