What is a kilobyte?

Answer 1

Kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix "kilo-", meaning 1,000) is a unit of digital information storage equal to either 1,000 bytes (103) or 1,024 bytes (210), depending on context.

The prefix kilo- refers to the number 1000. This is the standard, official definition, used to measure hard drives, DVDs, networking hardware, etc. This is what Mac OS X and Linux use to measure disk and file sizes.

• 1 bit = binary digit
• 8 bits = 1 byte (B)
• 1000 bytes = 1 kilobyte (kB)
• 1000 kilobytes = 1 megabyte (MB)
• 1000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte (GB)
• 1000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte (TB)
• 1000 terabytes = 1 petabyte (PB)
• 1000 petabytes = 1 exabyte (EB)
• 1000 exabytes = 1 zettabyte (ZB)
• 1000 zettabytes = 1 yottabyte (YB)

Regarding computer memory, it is usually used as a unit of 2 to the power of 10, or 1024. This is officially incorrect usage, and should be written "KiB", for "kilobinary byte".

Answer 2

Bytes are smaller. It takes 1024 of them to make a kilobyte.

Answer 3

Assuming that KB stands for kilobyte, then the next smallest abbreviation would be B for bytes. A byte is usually defined as eight bits.

Answer 4

Kilobyte (KB) 1/1024 of a MB.