Convert Gigabytes to Kilobytes

About converting Gigabytes to Kilobytes

Gigabytes (GB) and Kilobytes (KB) are both units of digital storage, so converting between them is a single multiplication: multiply your Gigabytes figure by 1,000,000. Ten Gigabytes comes to 10,000,000 Kilobytes, and a hundred works out at 100,000,000 Kilobytes.

Rule of thumb: going from Gigabytes to Kilobytes multiplies, so the figure always grows — one Gigabyte is already 1,000,000 Kilobytes. If your answer came out smaller, you have the conversion the wrong way round.

What is a Gigabyte?

A gigabyte is a billion bytes in SI terms, and it is the unit consumers actually shop in: phone storage, mobile data allowances, game downloads. It is also where the decimal-versus-binary split gets genuinely interesting, because the answer depends on the product. Drives and data plans are sold in decimal gigabytes; memory is not, and an "8 GB" RAM module really is 8 GiB, because memory is physically addressed in powers of two and could not be built in round decimal sizes. Windows then reports both using binary units labelled "GB".

What is a Kilobyte?

A kilobyte is 1,000 bytes here, because this site uses the SI meaning of "kilo" — the same thousand as in kilometer, and the same one storage manufacturers print on the box. Computing muddied this by borrowing the prefix for 1,024, the nearest power of two, and Windows still reports storage that way while labelling it "KB". The IEC tried to settle the argument in 1998 by inventing the kibibyte (KiB) for the binary version, so the two could finally be told apart; adoption has been patchy. At this scale the gap is trivial either way.

To put both in perspective: an hour of HD streaming video runs to a few gigabytes, while a kilobyte is a paragraph or two of plain text.

The converter above updates as you type, and the table lists common values for quick reference. Need the opposite direction? Use the Kilobytes to Gigabytes converter, or browse all Digital Storage converters.