Bits to bytes
1 bit = 0.125 bytes
Type a value in bits (bit) to get bytes (B) straight away. A bit is smaller than a byte, so the number goes down. Both units belong to data storage, measured here against the byte.
1 bit = 0.125 B
Formula
B = bit × 0.125
One bit is 0.125 bytes, so multiply by that factor. You can also divide by 8, the number of bits in one byte. Here bit is the value in bits and B is the result in bytes.
Worked example: 8,000 bits × 0.125 = 1,000 bytes.
Bits to bytes table
| bits (bit) | bytes (B) |
|---|---|
| 1 bit | 0.125 B |
| 2 bit | 0.25 B |
| 3 bit | 0.375 B |
| 4 bit | 0.5 B |
| 5 bit | 0.625 B |
| 6 bit | 0.75 B |
| 7 bit | 0.875 B |
| 8 bit | 1 B |
| 9 bit | 1.125 B |
| 10 bit | 1.25 B |
| 15 bit | 1.875 B |
| 20 bit | 2.5 B |
| 25 bit | 3.125 B |
| 30 bit | 3.75 B |
| 40 bit | 5 B |
| 50 bit | 6.25 B |
| 60 bit | 7.5 B |
| 75 bit | 9.375 B |
| 100 bit | 12.5 B |
Everyday bits in bytes
| What it is | bit | B |
|---|---|---|
| one binary digit | 1 bit | 0.125 B |
| one byte | 8 bit | 1 B |
| a kibibit | 1,024 bit | 128 B |
| one megabit | 1,000,000 bit | 125,000 B |
| one gigabit | 1,000,000,000 bit | 125,000,000 B |
Quick estimate in your head
Multiply by about 5/4 × 0.1. For 8,000 bit that gives 1,000 B against an exact 1,000 B, an error under 0.1%.
Watch out for
- Internet speeds are in megabits per second (Mbps). Divide by 8 to get megabytes per second: a 100 Mbps line downloads about 12.5 MB/s.
About the units
Bit (bit). A single binary digit. Network speeds are quoted in bits per second, so Mbps is megabits.
Byte (B). 8 bits. The basic unit for file and memory sizes.
Going the other way, 1 byte is 8 bits.
Questions
How many bytes are in 1 bit?
1 bit is 0.125 bytes, and 1 byte is 8 bits.
How do I convert bits to bytes?
Use B = bit × 0.125. For example, 8,000 bits × 0.125 = 1,000 bytes.
Why does my drive show less space than advertised?
Makers use decimal units (1 GB = 10⁹ bytes) while many operating systems count in binary (1 GiB = 2³⁰ bytes). A 1 TB drive therefore shows about 931 GiB.
How much is one gigabit in bytes?
1,000,000,000 bit is 125,000,000 B.
Source for the conversion factor: NIST: prefixes for binary multiples (IEC 80000-13).
Related conversions
- bytes to bits
- megabytes to gigabytes
- gigabytes to megabytes
- gigabytes to terabytes
- terabytes to gigabytes
- kilobytes to megabytes