MB
From AudioLexic
A megabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to either 1000² bytes or 1024² bytes, depending on context. In rare cases, it is used to mean 1000×1024 bytes. It is commonly abbreviated MB (not to be confused with Mb, which is used for the megabit).
[edit] Definition
The term "megabyte" is ambiguous because it is commonly used to mean either 1000² bytes or 1024² bytes. The confusion originated as compromise technical jargon for the byte multiples that needed to be expressed by the powers of 2 but lacked convenient naming. As 1024 (2¹º) is roughly equal to 1000 (10³), roughly corresponding SI multiples began to be used as approximate binary multiples. In the past few years, standards and government authorities including IEC, IEEE, EU, and NIST, have addressed this ambiguity by promoting the use of megabyte to describe strictly 1000² bytes and "mebibyte" to describe 1024² bytes. This shift is reflected in an increasing number of software projects, but most file managers still show file sizes as "megabytes" ("MB").
[edit] Megabyte examples
Depending on compression methods and file format, a megabyte of data can roughly be:
- a 1000×1000 pixel bitmap image with 8 bit (1 byte) color depth
- a minute of 128 kbit/s MP3 compressed music.
- 5.7 seconds of uncompressed CD audio
- 100 pages of single-spaced 12 point font text in OpenOffice.org
- a typical book volume in text format (500 pages × 2000 characters)
- 3 seconds of DVD-quality video
[edit] External links
- Historical Notes About The Cost Of Hard Drive Storage Space
- the megabyte (established definition in Networking and Storage industries; from whatis.com)
- International Electrotechnical Commission definitions
- IEC prefixes and symbols for binary multiples
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