Computer Skills Course: Bits, Bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes (OLD VERSION)

PLEASE SEE NEW UPDATED VERSION:

Free Computer Skills Course: Digital Storage Terminology.

Learn about Bits, Bytes, Kilobytes (KB), Megabytes (MB), Gigabytes (GB), Terabytes (TB).

Transcript:

Let’s continue learning about how computers store data. As we learned earlier, computers use the Binary number system, which has only two numbers, one and zero.

The word that’s used to describe these binary digits, which can be either one or zero, is Bit – B-I-T = It’s short for ‘binary digit’ and it is the smallest unit of data in a computer.

Now, these Bits – these ones and zeroes – are used to store all kinds of information, from the text that appears on your screen, to the colors of an image, to the sounds that come out of your speakers. To store information like this, we use a bunch of bits together. The number of bits we have determines how much information we can store.

Now for our next term: It turns out, if you take 8 of these bits – 8 of these ones and zeroes - and put them together, that’s called a Byte. Sounds like a mouthful of food, but it’s spelled with a ‘y’ and it refers to 8 bits put together. In everyday terms, you can think of one byte as the amount of space it takes to store one single letter or symbol in a text document. If you wrote a short story with 1000 words, this would take up 1000 bytes of storage space.

That brings us to our next term. If you take 1000 bytes and put them together, that’s called a Kilobyte, often abbreviated as “kb”. Now, I will mention just once, that technically there are 1024 bytes in a kilobyte, and that’s because computers use binary and everything comes in powers of two. That said, it doesn’t really matter, it’s ok to think of a kilobyte simply as 1000 bytes, similar to how a kilometer is 1000 meters. One Kilobyte is enough space to hold about two pages of text. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the 5.25” floppy disk was a popular storage option, and it could hold 360kb of information.

So now, what’s it called if you have 1000 kilobytes? It’s called a Megabyte, often abbreviated as capital “MB”. One megabyte is enough space to hold about 5 books, or one photo, or one minute of music. Back in the 1980s, we had these things called floppy disks. This was a 3.5” floppy disk that held 1.44MB of data, which was pretty good at the time, because most files were pretty small.

Alright, now you’re probably wondering, what’s it called if you have 1000 megabytes? 1000 megabytes is called a Gigabyte, and it’s enough space to hold about 400 books, or a thousand pictures, or 16 hours of music. By the mid 1990s, you could buy a 1GB hard drive for a couple hundred bucks. Today, you can buy 1 GB flash drive for about $5.

Ok, so what’s it called when you have 1000 gigabytes? 1000 gigabytes is called a Terabyte, and is often abbreviated as “TB”, and it’s enough space to hold about 400,000 large books (that’s about 30 school libraries), a million pictures, or two years of continuous music. Today, you can buy a 1TB hard drive for under $50. Yes, it’s pretty amazing.

So, to recap, we talked about Bits, how there are 8 bits in 1 byte, how there are 1000 bytes in 1 kilobyte, and 1000 kilobytes in 1 megabyte, and 1000 megabytes in 1 gigabyte, and 1000 gigabytes in 1 terabyte. I hope you’ve enjoyed this video and that you have a better understanding of digital storage terminology.

[EDRISSALEXIS]

I usually hate these "hand-drawn" videos but this one was explained simply and got straight to the point to help me understand just how much size each held. Thank you.

[fulkyim]

Very well explained and really appreciate people like you helping people learn about things. Not many people would do that. Keep going!

[someoneishere]

1 kilobyte (KB) is actually 1000 bytes exactly, there is a common confusion about this. kilo, mega, giga etc. is always a power of 10. For power of 2 we use kibi, mebi, gibi. For example 1 kibibyte (KiB) = 1024 bytes. Part of the reason why there is a confusion about this is that Windows operating system uses wrong terms that does not comply with ISO standards. On Linux and if I remember correctly Mac OS X there is a difference between KB and KiB and they are calculated correctly. That is why a 8GB flash drive is "7.45GB" on Windows and 8GB everywhere else.

[johntheoldmod]

I found this very helpful and well presented and have absolutely no idea how anyone could leave a dislike for this video and look forward to viewing their improved version

[carlosauza]

Thank you so much! Your video was beautiful. Do you have a video with PB, EB, ZB, and YB I would definitely enjoy seeing it. The pictures helped 100%

[curlyhairgurl]

I never knew any of this until now thx sooo much!!!!

Really liked this one. I try using LEGO to explain Bits and Bytes, let me know what you think. I do like your white-boarding method of explaining!

[kianpark]

Thank you, Dane! I've learned something today. Great video!

[omprakashgupta]

This helps us to learn about bits and megabytes for class 4_5

[pizzachi]

Who else is satisfied about the smooth and nice handwriting? Anyways, very helpful I suggest you watch it.

[chrishansen]

There's a mistake in the video at 1:40. You abbreviated Kilobytes as (Kb), should be (KB). Just important for newer people to mind there is a big difference between small b and capital B (bits vs bytes).

[TPM]

Thank you so much. Best explanation I've ever seen.

[JamesMartinBass]

Well done. I watched this with my son.

[SamirDevs]

For people that wants to know higher bytes?
1024 TeraByte = 1 PETABYTE (PB)
1024 PetaByte = 1 EXABYTE (EB)
1024 ExaByte = 1 ZETTABYTE (ZB)
1024 ZettaByte = 1 YOTTOBYTE (YB)

[aMiTkUmAr-dcch]

well done I from India 😌love from India sir

[anummemon]

Very informative and clear explanation

[jxde.samson]

MEGABYTE (MB) = 1, 048, 576 KILOBYTES (KB)
GIGABYTE (GB) = 1, 073, 741, 824 KILOBYTES (KB)
TERABYTE (TB) = 1, 099, 511, 627, 776 KILOBYTES (KB)

[jromeroevo]

I get the 1KB = 1024 Bytes but then every time you increase the value you keep saying "*Actually 1024" like 1000 KB is actually 1024 bytes? Or you meant to multiply by that value? In the same terms that you are using 1MB is actually 1, 048, 576 Bytes.

[kirbyanimations]

Wow, one megabyte can hold that many books? That's crazy!

[deviprasadsaklani]

Very nice explanation method. thank u much sir