Data Transfer Rate Converter
Convert bps, kbps, Mbps, Gbps, Bps, KBps, MBps, GBps, and their binary equivalents.
Result
0
Base Unit
Relative Value
*Diagram shows values relative to the selected base unit (Megabit/s).
Unit Information
What are Bits per second (bps)?
Bits per second (bps) is the base unit for data transfer rate. It represents one binary digit (a 0 or 1) being transferred per second. It's the most fundamental measure of communication speed.
What are Kilobits per second (kbps)?
Kilobits per second (kbps or kb/s) is a decimal unit representing 1,000 bits per second. It was a common unit for older internet connection speeds, like dial-up modems.
What are Megabits per second (Mbps)?
Megabits per second (Mbps or Mb/s) is a common unit for measuring data transfer rates, especially for internet connections. One megabit is equal to one million (1,000,000) bits. Internet service providers typically advertise their plan speeds in Mbps (e.g., a 100 Mbps connection).
What are Gigabits per second (Gbps)?
Gigabits per second (Gbps or Gb/s) represents one billion (10⁹) bits per second. This unit is used for modern high-speed connections, such as fiber optic internet and local area network (LAN) backbones (e.g., Gigabit Ethernet).
What are Terabits per second (Tbps)?
Terabits per second (Tbps or Tb/s) represents one trillion (10¹²) bits per second. This is an extremely high data rate used to describe the capacity of major internet backbone links and large-scale data center networks.
What are Bytes per second (B/s)?
Bytes per second (B/s) measures data transfer rate in terms of bytes (1 Byte = 8 bits). It's a direct measure of how much file data is transferred per second.
What are Kilobytes per second (KB/s)?
Kilobytes per second (KB/s) is a decimal unit representing 1,000 bytes per second. It's often used for displaying download speeds for smaller files or on slower connections.
What are Megabytes per second (MB/s)?
Megabytes per second (MB/s) is a unit for measuring data transfer rates in terms of bytes. One megabyte is equal to one million (1,000,000) bytes, and since one byte is 8 bits, 1 MB/s is equivalent to 8 Mbps. File download speeds in web browsers or applications are often displayed in MB/s, indicating how many megabytes of data are being transferred each second.
What are Gigabytes per second (GB/s)?
Gigabytes per second (GB/s) represents one billion (10⁹) bytes per second. This high data rate is common for measuring the speed of internal storage devices, like modern SSDs and RAM.
What are Terabytes per second (TB/s)?
Terabytes per second (TB/s) represents one trillion (10¹²) bytes per second. This is a massive data rate used to describe the aggregate bandwidth of high-performance computing systems and data center fabrics.
What are Kibibits/Mebibits/Gibibits/Tebibits per second?
These are binary units of data transfer rate. A kibibit (Kibps) is 1,024 bits/s. A mebibit (Mibps) is 1024² bits/s, and so on. They are less common but provide a more precise measure in contexts that use binary multiples.
What are Kibibytes/Mebibytes/Gibibytes/Tebibytes per second?
These are binary units measuring bytes per second. A kibibyte/s (KiB/s) is 1,024 bytes/s. A mebibyte/s (MiB/s) is 1024² bytes/s, and so on. Software applications sometimes use these binary-based units to report transfer speeds.
Formulas
1 Byte/second = 8 bits/second
The fundamental relationship is that 1 Byte equals 8 bits.
1 MB/s = 8 Mbps
One Megabyte per second is equivalent to eight Megabits per second.
Download Time (s) = File Size (in MBytes) / Speed (in MBytes/s)
To estimate download time, ensure both file size and speed are in bytes.
1 KiB/s = 1024 B/s
One Kibibyte per second is 1024 bytes per second (binary).
1 KB/s = 1000 B/s
One Kilobyte per second is 1000 bytes per second (decimal).
Key Reference Points
- USB 2.0 theoretical max speed: 480 Mbps (60 MB/s).
- USB 3.0 (Gen 1) theoretical max speed: 5 Gbps (625 MB/s).
- SATA III (common for SSDs) theoretical max speed: 6 Gbps (750 MB/s).
- A typical HD video stream (1080p): Requires about 5-8 Mbps.
- A 4K UHD video stream: May require 25 Mbps or more.
- Standard Ethernet: 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps).
- Typical Fast Home Internet (Fiber): 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps.
- 5G Mobile Download Speed (average): Can range from 150 to 500 Mbps, with peaks over 1 Gbps.
- Bluetooth Classic Data Rate: ~2-3 Mbps.
- Old Dial-up Modem: ~56 kbps (0.056 Mbps).
Did You Know?
Data rates almost always use decimal prefixes (powers of 1000: kilo, mega, giga). This is different from how operating systems often measure file storage using binary prefixes (powers of 1024: kibi, mebi, gibi), which causes the discrepancy between advertised and reported disk space.
Bandwidth refers to the maximum theoretical data transfer rate of a connection, while throughput is the actual rate achieved, which can be lower due to factors like network congestion, latency, and protocol overhead.
Full-duplex connections allow data to be sent and received simultaneously (e.g., modern Ethernet). Half-duplex connections allow data transfer in only one direction at a time (e.g., walkie-talkies).
The first message sent over the ARPANET (the precursor to the internet) in 1969 was intended to be 'LOGIN'. The system crashed after receiving the first two letters, so the historic first message was simply 'LO'.
Latency, or ping time, is the delay for a small data packet to travel from your computer to a server and back. Even with a high-bandwidth connection (high Mbps), high latency can make real-time applications like online gaming or video conferencing feel sluggish.
This theorem defines the theoretical maximum data rate (channel capacity) of a communication channel for a given bandwidth and signal-to-noise ratio. It sets the ultimate speed limit for data transmission in a noisy environment.
Data in fiber optic cables travels as pulses of light. While light travels at about 299,792 km/s in a vacuum, it slows down to roughly two-thirds of that speed inside the glass fiber, which still allows for incredibly fast data transfer over long distances.
When you download a file, not all data transferred is part of the file itself. A significant portion consists of protocol overhead (like TCP/IP headers) used for addressing, error checking, and session management, which reduces the effective data throughput.
In early modems, speed was often measured in 'baud,' which is the number of symbols (or signal changes) transmitted per second. This is not always the same as bits per second, as one symbol can represent multiple bits.
The first experimental Ethernet network in 1973 operated at 2.94 Mbps. Today, standard home Ethernet is 1 Gbps, and data centers commonly use 100 Gbps or even faster links.
Many consumer internet connections are asymmetrical, meaning the download speed (e.g., 100 Mbps) is much faster than the upload speed (e.g., 10 Mbps). This is because typical users consume far more data than they upload.
The 'sneakernet' is a humorous term for transferring data by physically moving storage media (like a USB drive) from one computer to another. For extremely large datasets, the effective bandwidth of driving a car full of hard drives can still be higher than transferring the data over the internet.
NASA's Deep Space Network communicates with spacecraft across the solar system. The data rates can be extremely slow due to the vast distances. For example, the Voyager 1 spacecraft transmits data back to Earth at just 160 bits per second.
A 56k dial-up modem, once the standard for internet access, had a maximum theoretical speed of 56 kilobits per second (kbps). This is over 1,700 times slower than a common 100 megabit per second (Mbps) connection today.
The Nyquist rate, from the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem, states that to perfectly reconstruct an analog signal, you must sample it at a rate at least twice as high as its highest frequency component. This is a fundamental principle for converting analog audio or video into digital data.
USB 1.0 had a maximum speed of 12 Mbps. USB 2.0 increased this to 480 Mbps. USB 3.0 brought 5 Gbps, and the latest USB4 standard can reach speeds of 40 Gbps, demonstrating the rapid evolution of local data transfer rates.
Modern Wi-Fi standards are named to be more consumer-friendly. For example, 'Wi-Fi 6' (802.11ax) offers higher theoretical data rates and better performance in crowded areas than 'Wi-Fi 5' (802.11ac).
The term 'bit' was coined by John W. Tukey as a portmanteau of 'binary digit'. It's the most fundamental unit of information in computing and digital communications.