Bytes > Kilobytes

[Xander]

Ahh, stupid question but I can never remember how you turn bytes into kilobytes. So when I'm checking the size of images I see 1000 bytes or 10000 bytes or something but how much is this in KB?

[Bahamut2000X]

I believe that 1000 bytes equals 1 KB.

[crono_logical]

<div align="justify">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

KB is confusing since it can either mean 1000 or 1024 (2¹⁰) bytes, depending on what you feel like, basically :p Or both at the same time, in the case of floppy disks, according to that site. :D

Windows Explorer uses powers of 1024 though, and in general this is what you want to use when working with file sizes, as 1024 is generally more commonly accepted. You can use the 1000 as an approximation if you want and are too lazy to get a calculator out, but remember it's only an approximation then :p vBulletin uses powers of 1024 internally as well.

It's a lot safer to use KiB instead of KB (and the binary versions of all the prefixes), since that can <i>only</i> mean 1024 bytes (or the appropriate binary factor) and never be a confusing mix of the two, and removes the need of specifying which of the two you mean exactly as well :p</div>

[Dr Unne]

Just always use 1024. It's rarer to see KB used as 1000 bytes, from my experience.

[Xander]

Ah, thanks everyone.

[Baloki]

Its the same with Megabytes and Gigabytes, and its all to do with the radius of a disc...

[Yamaneko]

I'm pretty sure 1000kb = 1mb and 1000mb = 1gb. It's only with bytes to kb, I believe. I could be wrong though.

[Baloki]

Originally posted by Yamaneko
I'm pretty sure 1000kb = 1mb and 1000mb = 1gb. It's only with bytes to kb, I believe. I could be wrong though.

yeap, you are, scary eh?


Edit: And did you know one byte is one character, ie a letter a, wowsies, rofl.

[Dr Unne]

<i>I'm pretty sure 1000kb = 1mb and 1000mb = 1gb. It's only with bytes to kb, I believe. I could be wrong though.</i> --Yamaneko

I think it's always powers of 2 actually. But people do use different definitions of MB and GB too, so yeah.

<i>Edit: And did you know one byte is one character, ie a letter a, wowsies, rofl.</i> --Baloki

Never heard of Unicode then, I guess.

[Baloki]

I give up, you don't even get my lame jokes...

[crono_logical]

<div style="text-align: justify;">
Originally posted by Yamaneko
I'm pretty sure 1000kb = 1mb and 1000mb = 1gb. It's only with bytes to kb, I believe. I could be wrong though. Nothing can be more annoying than when people mix 1024 and 1000 at the same time in the same unit e.g. using 1024 x 1000 to get from byte to KB to MB (common when measuring the size of a 1.44 "MB" floppy disk) - you're just trying to be confusing then changing between conventions in the same breath :p Like Unne said, just stick to 1024 for all powers since that's the most common usage almost everywhere - HD sizes quoted by HD manufacturers are the only ones that consistently use 1000 instead to make it seem their drives hold more than if quoted using powers of 1024.</div>