Convert Megabit (Mb) to Kilobyte (10^3 bytes) (kB (10^3)) instantly.
About these units
Megabit (Mb)
A megabit equals 1,000,000 bits, a standard networking unit used to express data transfer rates. Internet speeds—both broadband and wireless—are typically quoted in megabits per second (Mbps). Because communication systems often care more about transfer rates than storage quantities, the megabit became a natural standard long before modern high-speed networks. The distinction between megabits (Mb) and megabytes (MB) is crucial, as confusing the two leads to misunderstandings about download times. Megabits remain central to evaluating network performance, streaming quality, and bandwidth provisioning.
Kilobyte (10^3 bytes) (kB (10^3))
A decimal kilobyte equals 1,000 bytes, reflecting the SI prefix kilo = 10³. Storage device manufacturers standardize on this definition because it scales cleanly and simplifies marketing and specification. This creates a mismatch with binary kilobytes (1,024 bytes) historically used in RAM and file systems. As storage capacities grew, this discrepancy became increasingly noticeable, leading standards bodies to promote explicit binary prefixes (KiB, MiB) for clarity. Despite these efforts, decimal kilobytes remain dominant in contexts such as hard drives, flash memory packaging, and communication standards.