Bytes to KB, MB, GB — binary and decimal sizes, both ways

How to use the bytes humanizer

1. Enter Bytes or a size: a plain byte count (1536000), or a number with a unit (5 MB, 1.5 GiB, 800kb). Commas in the number are ignored.
2. Set Decimal places (0–6, default 2) for the headline sizes.
3. Read the four results: Binary (IEC), Decimal (SI), Bytes and Bits.
4. Use the table below them to see the same amount in every unit from B to EiB and EB.

What it does and when to use it

Logs, APIs and ls -l give sizes as raw byte counts. Upload limits, cloud bills and dashboards use human units, and they do not always agree on what “MB” means. This tool shows both readings side by side. Use it to set an upload limit, check an object size, or explain why a disk looks smaller than its label.

It accepts B, KB, MB, GB, TB, PB, EB and their binary forms KiB to EiB, plus the shorthand k, m, g and t (decimal).

The duration humanizer does the same job for milliseconds. The number formatter prints any number with locale separators, and the data rate converter handles speeds such as Mbit/s.

How it works

The input is split into a number and a unit. The number is multiplied by the unit’s size: powers of 1,000 for KB, MB and GB, and powers of 1,024 for KiB, MiB and GiB. For the readable form, the byte count is divided by 1,024 (or 1,000) until it drops below one step, and the unit reached is shown. Bits are bytes × 8. Everything runs in your browser.

Worked examples

A raw count of 1536000 bytes:

Binary (IEC): 1.46 MiB
Decimal (SI): 1.54 MB
Bytes: 1,536,000
Bits: 12,288,000

The table row KiB | 1,500 | KB | 1,536 shows why this number is often called “1.5 MB”: it is exactly 1,500 KiB.

A size back to bytes, 1.5 GiB:

Binary (IEC): 1.5 GiB
Decimal (SI): 1.61 GB
Bytes: 1,610,612,736

The “missing space” case, 500 GB, gives Binary (IEC): 465.66 GiB.

Limits and tips

• Use the unit your system uses. Linux ls -lh and du -h use binary steps but print K, M and G. macOS Finder uses decimal.
• Unknown units are rejected. 12 parsecs gives Unknown unit "parsecs". Words like “megabytes” are not parsed, so use the short form.