Convert MB to GB -
Convert GB to MB

Convert megabytes to gigabytes and vice versa

Megabyte and Gigabyte

What is a Megabyte?

A megabyte (MB) is a unit of digital information storage or computer data storage that is equal to 1,048,576 bytes, or more generally 1 million bytes. The term megabyte comes from the term "mega," which means million in the SI system (International System of Units), and byte, a unit of digital information.

In the context of computer memory and storage, a megabyte is often an indication for 1,048,576 (2^20) bytes. This is due to the binary nature of computers, in which each byte contains 8 bits of information, and each bit is a binary value of 0 or 1.

What is a Gigabyte?

A gigabyte (GB) is a unit of storage capacity that is technically equal to 1 billion bytes according to the standard SI definition. However, in the context of computer storage, it is often defined as 1,073,741,824 (2^30) bytes. The term gigabyte comes from the term "giga," which means billion in the SI system, and byte.

Relationship between Megabytes and Gigabytes

A gigabyte is 1,024 times larger than a megabyte if we consider the binary definition often used in computing. Therefore, if we want to convert from megabytes to gigabytes, we would divide the number of megabytes by 1,024.

1 megabyte = 0.000977 gigabyte

If we want to convert from gigabytes to megabytes, we multiply the number of gigabytes by 1,024.

1 gigabyte = 1024 megabytes

The Importance of Megabytes and Gigabytes

Both megabytes and gigabytes are common measurements of digital storage. For example, the storage capacity of smartphones, tablets, computers, and other digital devices is often measured in gigabytes. Conversely, smaller files, such as documents and images, are often measured in kilobytes (KB) or megabytes (MB).

As an example, a music track in MP3 format may take up about 5 megabytes of space, while a high-resolution movie may take up several gigabytes. Understanding these units and their proportions can be useful to determine how much storage space you need for various digital files.