Kilobyte

Updated: 03/05/2023 by Computer Hope
Green letter K and pink letter B.

Abbreviated as K, kB, KB, K-byte, and KByte, a kilobyte was initially equal to 1,024 bytes because of base 2. However, in 1998, the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) approved standard 60027-2, which defined 1,024 bytes as a kibibyte and not a kilobyte. Today, a kilobyte equals 1,000 bytes, and a kibibyte equals 1,024 bytes.

Tip

When the "b" is lowercase (Kb), this refers to a kilobit.

What comes before a kilobyte?

A byte comes before a kilobyte.

What comes after a kilobyte?

A megabyte comes after a kilobyte.

Converting kilobytes to another unit

Below is a listing of kilobyte values where a kilobyte is considered 1,000 bytes. Using this chart, you can find how many kilobytes are in other measurements. For example, you can see 1,000 kilobytes in a megabyte. For measurements that are smaller than a kilobyte, the decimal value is shown.

Note

See our kibibyte (KiB) definition for a listing of kibibyte values where a kibibyte equals 1,024 bytes.

Kilobyte (KB) Value
Kilobyte in a Bit (b) 0.000125
Kilobyte in a Nibble (N) 0.00048828125
Kilobyte in a Byte (B) 0.001
Kilobyte in a Kilobit (Kb) 0.125
Kilobyte in a Kilobyte (KB) 1
Kilobyte in a Kibibit (Kibit) 0.128
Kilobyte in a Kibibyte (KiB) 1.024
Kilobytes in a Megabit (Mb) 125
Kilobytes in a Megabyte (MB) 1,000
Kilobytes in a Mebibit (Mibit) 131.072
Kilobytes in a Mebibyte (MiB) 1,048.58
Kilobytes in a Gigabit (Gb) 125,000
Kilobytes in a Gigabyte (GB) 1,000,000
Kilobytes in a Gibibit (Gibit) 134,218
Kilobytes in a Gibibyte (GiB) 1,074,000
Kilobytes in a Terabit (Tb) 125,000,000
Kilobytes in a Terabyte (TB) 1,000,000,000
Kilobytes in a Tebibit (Tibit) 137,400,000
Kilobytes in a Tebibyte (TiB) 1,100,000,000
Kilobytes in a Petabit (Pb) 125,000,000,000
Kilobytes in a Petabyte (PB) 1,000,000,000,000
Kilobytes in a Pebibit (Pibit) 140,700,000,000
Kilobytes in a Pebibyte (PiB) 1,126,000,000,000
Kilobytes in an Exabit (Eb) 125,000,000,000,000
Kilobytes in an Exabyte (EB) 1,000,000,000,000,000
Kilobytes in an Exbibit (Eibit) 144,115,188,000,000
Kilobytes in an Exbibyte (EiB) 1,152,921,500,000,000
Kilobytes in a Zettabyte (ZB) 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
Kilobytes in a Yottabyte (YB) 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Byte, Computer abbreviations, Hard drive terms, Kibibyte, Kilobit, Measurement, Storage device