EMZETT.Gibibyte
In short: A gibibyte (GiB) is 1,073,741,824 bytes (2³⁰). It is the binary unit that fits powers of two.
In more detail: Computer memory is built in powers of two by nature. The IEC therefore defined separate binary prefixes: kibi (Ki), mebi (Mi), gibi (Gi), tebi (Ti), each a factor of 1024. That makes it possible to tell gigabyte (10⁹) and gibibyte (2³⁰) apart clearly.
In Depth
| Unit | Bytes |
|---|---|
| 1 KiB | 1,024 |
| 1 MiB | 1,048,576 |
| 1 GiB | 1,073,741,824 |
| 1 TiB | 1,099,511,627,776 |
- Difference: 1 GiB is about 7.4 % larger than 1 GB. At terabyte size it is already almost 10 %.
- Where you see GiB: working memory (RAM) is built in powers of two (8 GiB, 16 GiB), even if the packaging says “GB”. Linux tools often use GiB. Windows shows GiB but writes “GB”.
- To remember: gigabyte = manufacturers and data lines (power of ten), gibibyte = actual memory addressing (power of two).