Convert Byte (B) to Megabyte (10^6 bytes) (MB (10^6)) instantly.
About these units
Byte (B)
A byte consists of 8 bits, forming the standard grouping used in computing for representing characters, numbers, and machine instructions. This 8-bit size became dominant due to hardware design choices in early microprocessors, especially the IBM System/360 architecture. Bytes allow computers to represent values from 0 to 255, enabling ASCII encoding, color values, file metadata, and vast amounts of structured data. The byte is the basis for nearly all storage units—kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes—and remains the fundamental digital "counting unit" for memory, disk space, and network transfers.
Megabyte (10^6 bytes) (MB (10^6))
A decimal megabyte equals 1,000,000 bytes, used widely for describing hard disk storage, file sizes, and digital media capacity. Manufacturers favor decimal prefixes because they produce cleaner, larger-sounding numbers compared to binary equivalents. For example, a "500 MB" device would be smaller in binary units. Consumers and engineers must interpret megabytes within context, distinguishing whether a manufacturer intends binary or decimal. Although decimal megabytes dominate mass-storage descriptions, binary megabytes remain common in system memory and software.