Javatpoint Logo
Javatpoint Logo

Difference between MB and GB

In daily life, both megabytes and gigabytes are commonly used. They are used to define the size of songs, images, and games. If we have a mobile phone or a device, we most likely know how many megabytes a game is when we download it or how many gigabytes a video is when we purchase it to download. The various bits, characters, or blocks in computer and telecommunications systems determine the data transfer rate. These are measured in bits per second or bytes per second.

The gigabyte (GB) is one of the most popular daily data measurements. Measurements are usually rounded off. A megabyte (MB) is claimed to be a thousand kilobytes, but it is actually 1,024 kilobytes (KB), and a gigabyte (GB) is also 1,024 megabytes (MB).

In this article, we will discuss the difference between the MB (Megabyte) and Gb (Gigabyte). But before discussing the differences, we will know about the Megabyte (MB) and gigabyte (GB).

MB vs GB

What is MB (Megabyte)?

A megabyte (MB) is a unit of data measurement used in digital devices or media storage. One megabyte (MB) is equivalent to one million bytes (10^6 or 1,000,000). Depending on the context, a megabyte is multiple units of byte used to transmit and store digital information. It is made up of 1,048,576 bytes for computer memory and one million bytes for computer storage.

The International System of Units (SI) suggests defining one million bytes in terms of CPU clock speed, networking contexts, performance measurement, and hard drives and flash storage. It expresses file sizes in decimal units. For example, Microsoft Windows uses the definition 1,048,576 bytes in the show of drive capacity and file size. In contrast, the 1,024,000 bytes concept is used in 3.5-inch HD floppy disks. The binary mega prefix has a size of 1,048,576 bits or 1,024 Kb. The difference between SI and binary is approximately 4.86%.

Examples of MB storage

There are various examples of MB storage. Some of them are as follows:

  1. A 4-megapixel JPEG image with standard compression is approximately 1 MB in size.
  2. The human genome is made up of 800 megabytes of data encoded in DNA.
  3. One minute of MP3 compressed music at 128 kbit/s.
  4. A bitmap picture of 1024*1024 pixels and 256
  5. In plain text format, a standard English book volume.
  6. 6 seconds of uncompressed CD audio.

What is GB (Gigabyte)?

A gigabyte (GB) is a digital device or media storage data measurement unit. A gigabyte (GB) is a collection of byte units used for digital information storage. It is also used to refer to a gigabyte (1,073,741,824 bytes). One gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,024 megabytes (MB) in the computer system.

A gigabyte is one billion bytes in terms of disk storage and data transmission numbers in telecommunications. While most hard drive sizes are now measured in gigabytes, manufacturers continue to utilize distinct interpretations, which can be confusing.

Gigabytes, which are sometimes abbreviated as "gigs", are commonly used to measure the capacity of storage devices. For example, a standard DVD drive can hold 4.7 GBs of data. Terabytes are storage devices that hold 1,000 GB of data.

Examples of GB (Gigabyte) Storage

There are various examples of GB (Gigabyte) Storage. Some of these examples are as follows:

  1. 114 minutes of uncompressed CD-quality audio equals about 1 GB.
  2. A dual-layered Blu-ray disc can hold approximately 50 GB of data.
  3. A 7-minute HDTV video is approximately 1 GB in size.
  4. A DVD-R can hold approximately 7 GB of data.

Main Difference between the MB (Megabyte) and GB (Gigabyte)

Here, we will discuss the main differences between the MB (Megabyte) and GB (Gigabyte). There are several differences between MB and GB. Some of these differences are as follows:

  1. One MB constitutes 1024 KB. In contrast, one GB constitutes 1024 MB.
  2. Gigabyte (GB) and Megabyte (MB) are digital data storage and transmission multiples of the unit byte.
  3. A GB of storage can hold 1024 MB of data. One megabyte (MB) can hold 1024 KB of data. One KB can hold 1024 bytes of data, and a byte contains 8 bits of data.
  4. The main distinction between a megabyte and a gigabyte is the number of bytes they contain.
  5. A megabyte is made up of 2^20 bytes (1,048,576 bytes), whereas a gigabyte is made up of 2^30 bytes (1,073,741,824 bytes). Taking this into account, a gigabyte can be made up of 2^10 megabytes (1024 megabytes). Every step on the scale is represented by the number 1024. A kilobyte (KB) has 1024 bytes, a megabyte has 1024 kilobytes (KB), and a gigabyte has 1024 megabytes (MB).
  6. A megabyte is made up of 1,048,576 bytes when used for computer memory.
  7. Most hard drive capacities are measured in gigabytes (GB), which is the larger of the two units.

Conclusion

Megabytes and gigabytes are magnitudes of bytes, similar to the kilobyte. The gigabyte (GB) is greater than the megabyte (MB). For example, when a user buys a system with 500 GB of storage, we're getting a computer that can hold roughly 500 billion bytes of data. A typical MP3 file can be up to 5 MB in size or about 5 million bytes. A megabyte has a numerical value of 2^20 (1,048,576), and a gigabyte has a numerical value of 2^30 (1,073,741,824).

One gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes (MB) in a computer operating system, while one megabyte is equal to 1,024 kilobytes (KB). In addition, one gigabyte contains 1,073,741,824 bytes of data. On the other hand, one megabyte is made up of 1,048,576 bytes of data.


Next TopicDifference between





Youtube For Videos Join Our Youtube Channel: Join Now

Feedback


Help Others, Please Share

facebook twitter pinterest

Learn Latest Tutorials


Preparation


Trending Technologies


B.Tech / MCA