MB to GB Converter

Try out our MB to GB converter, which allows you to seamlessly convert from megabytes to gigabytes and vice versa. Continue reading to learn:

• What megabytes and gigabytes are;
• What the MB to GB conversion is;
• The base-2 and base-10 conversions and the difference between these units.

You can switch between these variants using our MB to GB converter.

If you need to work with kilobytes as well, we invite you to check the kB to MB converter, which we designed precisely for this purpose.

A megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte, which measures the amount of data stored in a digital medium. There are two definitions of how many bytes 1 megabyte has.

First, let's talk about the base-2 definition. According to information technology fields, 1 MB is equal to 1024² bytes. You may ask why the 1024 base is used since the 1000 base is usually used for converting multiples of units with prefixes such as kilo and mega.

In the computer world, the binary (aka base-2 number system) is used for representing data. Because of this, it has made more sense to use the power of 2 when referring to computer information, and 1024 is, in fact, equal to 2¹⁰. Base-2 is the representation used by the Microsoft Windows operating system for computer memory, such as RAM.

If you want to find out more about the binary system and how to convert between decimal and binary numbers, be sure to check out our binary converter.

On the other hand, the base-10 definition states that 1 MB is equal to 1000² bytes, which in turn equals 1,000,000 bytes. Here, the standard 1000 base is used to convert to bytes. This definition follows the rules of the SI metric system. It is commonly used in the context of disk sizes (such as hard drives) and computer networking.

To learn more about how to convert between bytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and other units of digital information, check out the byte conversion calculator.

As you see, there is more than one definition of a megabyte. To resolve this ambiguity, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) introduced the mebibyte unit (MiB), which is synonymous with the base-2 definition of megabyte:

1 MiB = 1024² bytes

However, there are times when it can still be challenging to figure out whether a megabyte represents 1024² bytes or 1000² bytes. That's why our GB to MB calculator does both conversions.

Like a megabyte, a gigabyte is a multiple of the byte unit. The only difference is the power, which designates how many bytes each unit has. The binary definition of the gigabyte states that 1 GB is equal to 1024³ bytes, while the SI metric system says that 1 GB is equal to 1000³ bytes.

Yes, a gigabyte is bigger than a megabyte. In fact, a gigabyte is either 1000 or 1024 times a megabyte. The difference depends on the selected numeral system used. In the base-10 system, 1 GB equals 1000 MB, while in the base-2 system, 1 GB equals 1024 MB.

Is it still unclear to you how the MB to GB conversion works? Let us dive into it with several examples or practice the calculations with the MB to GB converter.

As we have already explained, the conversion from megabytes to gigabytes is pretty easy. In the next two sections, you will learn how to convert MB to GB using the base 2 and base 10 number systems.

Base-2: non-SI system

In the case of a base-2 system, to get the number of gigabytes, you should divide the number of megabytes by 1024.

For example, when converting 2048 megabytes to gigabytes, the result is 2048/1024, which is equal to 2. Here is the formula:

Here are some examples of megabytes to gigabytes conversions using the base-2 system:

• 512 MB = 0.5 GB
• 1024 MB = 1 GB
• 2560 MB = 2.5 GB
• 4096 MB = 4 GB

A more tricky conversion would be 1000 MB to GB:
1000 MB = 0.9766 GB

Base-10: SI system

If you want to get the number of gigabytes from megabytes when using the base-10 system, you should divide the number of megabytes by 1000. Here is the formula:

According to the base-10 system:

• 500 MB = 0.5 GB
• 1000 MB = 1 GB
• 2500 MB = 2.5 GB
• 4000 MB = 4 GB

What about converting 16 GB to MB? In that case, you need to multiply GB by 1000.

So 16 GB = 16,000 MB

Be sure to try our MB to GB converter, which allows you to easily switch between MB and GB in both base-2 and base-10 systems. You can also check the Mbps to Gbps converter to convert between different data transfer rates instead of static media storage!