Convert Kilohertz to Hertz

About converting Kilohertz to Hertz

Kilohertz (kHz) and Hertz (Hz) are both units of frequency, so converting between them is a single multiplication: multiply your Kilohertz figure by 1,000. Ten Kilohertz comes to 10,000 Hertz, and a hundred works out at 100,000 Hertz.

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

What is a Kilohertz?

The kilohertz is the range of sound and of the oldest broadcast radio. The top of human hearing sits somewhere near 20 kHz in a young ear, and digital audio is sampled in kilohertz — CD audio at 44.1 kHz, most video and studio work at 48 kHz or above — because a sample rate has to comfortably exceed the highest frequency you want to capture. AM radio is the other kilohertz territory: the numbers on an AM dial are station frequencies in kilohertz, which is why they run to three or four digits while the FM dial beside them shows tidy two-digit megahertz.

What is a Hertz?

The hertz is one cycle per second — nothing more. It is named after Heinrich Hertz, who demonstrated experimentally that electromagnetic waves exist, confirming what until then had been theory. The unit itself is younger than it looks: engineers said "cycles per second", abbreviated cps, until hertz was formally adopted in 1960. Its reach is remarkable for so plain a definition. Mains electricity alternates at 50 or 60 Hz, human hearing starts at roughly 20 Hz, and a monitor advertised at 144 Hz is simply redrawing itself 144 times a second. Anything that repeats can be counted in hertz.

To put both in perspective: AM radio stations sit around 1,000 kilohertz on the dial, while a screen refreshing 60 times a second runs at 60 hertz.

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