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File Sizes

What is it?

  • It is a measure of how much data a computer file contains or, alternately, how much storage it consumes. 

  • It refers to digital memory capacity.

  • File sizes can be measured in:

  • Bytes (B)

  • Kilobytes (KB)

  • Megabytes (MB)

  • Gigabytes (GB)

  • Terabytes (TB) and beyond.

  • A byte is a sequence of 8 bits.

  • In the picture below of files listed in Windows Explorer, the size column has been sorted to show the largest file first.

File Sizes

How do I see file Sizes?

  • In Windows, right-clicking on any file, folder, or drive and choosing "Properties" will show the size. 

  • In Mac OS X, you can press Command+i to show details of an individual file.

  • File size is expressed in units of measurement based on the byte.

  • When a file is written to a file system, it may consume slightly more disk space than the file requires. 

Sometimes referred to unambiguously as kibibyte (KiB).

KibiByte  =  1024 Bytes

Kilo and binary

  • File transfers (e.g. "downloads") may use rates of units of bytes (e.g. MB/s) in binary.

  • Networking hardware, such as WiFi, always uses the metric system (Mbits/s, Gbits/s etc.) of units of bits.

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