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Convert mebibytes to kilobytes

1 MiB = 1048.58 KB

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Questions

How many kilobytes are in a mebibyte?

One mebibyte is 1048.576 kilobytes. To convert any amount, multiply by 1048.576. Going the other way, one kilobyte is 0.000953674316 mebibytes.

What is the formula to convert MiB to KB?

Multiply the mebibyte figure by 1048.576. So KB = MiB × 1048.576. For a quick mental estimate, multiplying by about 1049 gets you within a percent or so, which is close enough for most everyday purposes.

What does a mebibyte actually look like?

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.

And what is a kilobyte?

One kilobyte is a short email. A kilobyte is 1,000 bytes under the SI definition used by storage manufacturers and networking. Windows still labels 1,024 bytes as KB, which is the root of the 'missing space' on a new drive.

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 mib to kb

How to convert mebibytes to kilobytes

Multiply by 1048.576. One mebibyte is 1048.576 kilobytes, and one kilobyte is 0.000953674316 mebibytes.

KB = MiB × 1048.576

Worked example

500 MiB = 524288 KB. For a sense of scale, one mebibyte is about 5% more than a megabyte, and one kilobyte is a short email.

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.

About the kilobyte

A kilobyte is 1,000 bytes under the SI definition used by storage manufacturers and networking. Windows still labels 1,024 bytes as KB, which is the root of the 'missing space' on a new drive.

Quick reference

mebibyteskilobytes
1 MiB1048.58 KB
2 MiB2097.15 KB
5 MiB5242.88 KB
10 MiB10485.8 KB
25 MiB26214.4 KB
50 MiB52428.8 KB
100 MiB104858 KB
1000 MiB1048580 KB

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