Information AboutMebibyte |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MEBIBYTE | |
| units of information | |
|
A mebibyte (a contraction of mega binary byte) is a unit of Information or Computer Storage , abbreviated '''MiB'''. : 1 MiB = 220 Byte s = 1,048,576 bytes = 1,024 Kibibyte s : 1 MiB = 1024 (= 210) Kibibyte s (KiB), and 1024 MiB equal one Gibibyte (GiB). The mebibyte is closely related to the Megabyte (MB), which can be a synonym for mebibyte, or refer to 106 bytes = 1,000,000 bytes, or even refer to 1,000 times 1,024 bytes (e.g. the 1.44 MB floppy disk), depending on context (see Binary Prefix for background). The three numbers are relatively close together, but mistaking the three has nonetheless led to Consumer Confusion and even Legal Disputes . There are times when it is necessary to know the exact size of a file, for example, or exactly how much space remains on a storage device. The unit was defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in December 1998. Use of mebibyte and related units is strongly endorsed by IEEE and CIPM , but has not been widely adopted by industry nor is it used by computer veterans. This is true for good reason, as many working in the industry hold firm the opinion that the terms 'mebibyte' and 'gibibyte' are an unnecessary notation and present an unnecessary extra complication. According to this opinion, the terms 'Megabyte' and 'Gigabyte' should refer to the base 2 versions as they always have, i.e 220 and 230 respectively and that those who use the base 10 versions are simply confused about the true meaning of the terms they use, since base 10 has little meaning in electronics and computing which is entirely a binary world. However, the base-10 units are widely used in discussing the sizes of disks, and universally used in networking and telecommunications. Mibibyte is a common misspelling, presumably from the "i" in the abbreviation or confusion about how the surrounding prefixes (i.e. "kibi" and "gibi") were actually formed. The "i" in MiB is actually from the end of the prefix. Tebi- and pebi- are similarly abbreviated Ti- and Pi-, but they are not usually misspelled, as storage sizes (and corresponding terms) are currently this large in specialized situations only. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|