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Convert gigabytes to mebibytes

1 GB = 953.674 MiB

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Questions

How many mebibytes are in a gigabyte?

One gigabyte is 953.674316 mebibytes. To convert any amount, multiply by 953.674316. Going the other way, one mebibyte is 0.001048576 gigabytes.

What is the formula to convert GB to MiB?

Multiply the gigabyte figure by 953.674316. So MiB = GB × 953.674316. For a quick mental estimate, multiplying by about 954 gets you within a percent or so, which is close enough for most everyday purposes.

What does a gigabyte actually look like?

One gigabyte is about two hours of HD video. A gigabyte is one billion bytes. A drive sold as 1 TB holds 1,000 GB decimal, which your operating system may display as 931 GiB — nothing is missing, the units differ.

And what is a mebibyte?

One mebibyte is about 5% more than a megabyte. A mebibyte is exactly 1,024² bytes. The binary prefixes — kibi, mebi, gibi — were standardised by the IEC in 1998 precisely to end the ambiguity, though adoption is patchy.

Why does my 1 TB drive show as only 931 GB?

Because two different definitions are in play. Storage manufacturers use decimal units — 1 TB means exactly one trillion bytes. Windows and many other systems display binary units but label them with decimal names, so they show that same drive as 931 "GB" when they mean 931 gibibytes. Nothing is missing and nothing is faulty; the drive holds exactly what it says, measured differently. The IEC standardised kibi, mebi and gibi in 1998 specifically to end this, but adoption has been patchy.

Is this conversion exact?

Yes — both decimal and binary prefixes are exactly defined powers, so every figure here is exact rather than approximate. The results are shown to seven significant figures; the underlying arithmetic uses full double precision.

About gb to mib

How to convert gigabytes to mebibytes

Multiply by 953.674316. One gigabyte is 953.674316 mebibytes, and one mebibyte is 0.001048576 gigabytes.

MiB = GB × 953.674316

Worked example

500 GB = 476837.2 MiB. For a sense of scale, one gigabyte is about two hours of HD video, and one mebibyte is about 5% more than a megabyte.

About the gigabyte

A gigabyte is one billion bytes. A drive sold as 1 TB holds 1,000 GB decimal, which your operating system may display as 931 GiB — nothing is missing, the units differ.

About the mebibyte

A mebibyte is exactly 1,024² bytes. The binary prefixes — kibi, mebi, gibi — were standardised by the IEC in 1998 precisely to end the ambiguity, though adoption is patchy.

Quick reference

gigabytesmebibytes
1 GB953.674 MiB
2 GB1907.35 MiB
5 GB4768.37 MiB
10 GB9536.74 MiB
25 GB23841.9 MiB
50 GB47683.7 MiB
100 GB95367.4 MiB
1000 GB953674 MiB

Getting it right

The decimal and binary prefixes are the trap: a kilobyte is 1,000 bytes but a kibibyte is 1,024, and the gap compounds at every step until a terabyte and a tebibyte differ by about 10%. Storage manufacturers use decimal, operating systems often display binary, and neither is wrong — they are simply different units.

Other data size conversions

Convert mebibytes back to gigabytes, or pick any other pair with the full unit converter. Related: GB to KB, GB to MB, GB to TB.