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Data units (KB, MB, GB, TB)

Data units measure file and storage size, each roughly 1,000 times the last: a kilobyte (KB) is tiny text, a megabyte (MB) is a photo, a gigabyte (GB) is hundreds of photos or a short video, and a terabyte (TB) is about a thousand gigabytes.

Storage conceptsGeneral

Data units (KB, MB, GB, TB)

Also known as: kilobyte megabyte gigabyte, storage units, how big is a GB, KB MB GB TB

Data units measure file and storage size, each roughly 1,000 times the last: a kilobyte (KB) is tiny text, a megabyte (MB) is a photo, a gigabyte (GB) is hundreds of photos or a short video, and a terabyte (TB) is about a thousand gigabytes.

  • Each unit is roughly 1,000× the one below it
  • 1 MB ≈ a photo; 1 GB ≈ hundreds of photos
  • Marketed GB (1,000) differ from OS GB (1,024)

The ladder of sizes

Each step up is about 1,000 times bigger than the one below it. A kilobyte (KB) holds a page of plain text; a megabyte (MB) is roughly one photo or a minute of music; a gigabyte (GB) is hundreds of photos, a few apps, or a few minutes of 4K video; a terabyte (TB) is about 1,000 GB.

This is why a single GB disappears fast. A few videos and a games update can erase several gigabytes of free space in one afternoon, even though each individual file looks small.

Why 1,000 vs 1,024 matters

Phone and computer makers count storage in powers of 1,000 (a 128 GB phone is marketed as 128,000,000,000 bytes), while the operating system often counts in powers of 1,024. That gap is the main reason a "128 GB" device shows less than 128 GB of usable space — no storage is missing, the two systems just measure differently.

Related terms

Keep reading the reference.

Storage conceptsFormatted capacity (why 128GB shows less)Formatted capacity is the usable space a device actually reports, which is always less than the advertised number. The gap comes from two things: marketers count a gigabyte as 1,000,000,000 bytes while many systems count 1,073,741,824 (a GiB), and the operating system itself occupies part of the drive.GeneralStorage conceptsStorage vs RAMStorage is the permanent space that holds your photos, apps, and files even when the phone is off. RAM (memory) is the temporary working space apps use while running. Freeing storage and freeing memory are different jobs — and "RAM boosters" do not create storage.GeneralStorage conceptsCompression (lossy vs lossless)Compression shrinks a file by encoding its data more efficiently. Lossless compression rebuilds the original exactly, while lossy compression permanently discards detail the eye or ear is least likely to notice in exchange for much smaller files.General

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