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File size



 
 
File size measure
Measure

Measure can mean:* Measurement, the process of estimating the magnitude of some attribute of an object relative to some unit of measurement* Measure , a way to assign non-negative real numbers to subsets...
s the size
Size

The word size may refer to how big something is. In particular:* Measurement* Dimensions: length, width, height, diameter, perimeter, area, volume...
 of a computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
 file
Computer file

A computer file is a block of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable computer storage....
. Typically it is measured in byte
Byte

A byte is a basic unit of measurement of Computer storage in computer science. In many computer architectures it is a Byte addressing memory address space....
s with a prefix
Prefix

A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. The word "prefix" is itself made up of the stem fix , and the prefix pre- , both of which are derived from Latin root s....
. The actual amount of disk space consumed by the file depends on the file system
File system

In computing, a file system is a method for store and organize computer files and the data they contain to make it easy to find and access them....
.

The maximum file size a file system supports depends on the number of bit
Bit

A bit is a binary numeral system numerical digit, taking a value of either 0 or 1. Binary digits are a basic unit of information Computer data storage and transmission in digital computing and digital information theory....
s reserved to store size information and the total size of the file system. For example, with FAT32
File Allocation Table

File Allocation Table or FAT is a computer file system architecture now widely used on most computer systems and most memory cards, such as those used with digital cameras....
, the size of one file cannot be equal or larger than 4 GiB
Gibibyte

Gibibyte is a unit of Computer data storage, abbreviated GiB.The gibibyte is closely related to the gigabyte, which can either be a synonym for gibibyte, or refer to 109 bytes = 1,000,000,000 bytes, depending on context ....
.

Some common file size units are:









These units are often described using the terms KB
Kilobyte

Kilobyte is a unit of Computer data storage equal to either 1,024 bytes or 1,000 bytes , depending on context.It is abbreviated in a number of ways: KB, kB, K and Kbyte....
, MB
Megabyte

Megabyte is a SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for digital information computer storage or transmission and is equal to 106 bytes....
, GB
Gigabyte

Gigabyte is an SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for Computer data storage. Since the giga- prefix means 109, gigabyte means 1,000,000,000 bytes ....
 and TB
Terabyte

A terabyte is a measurement term for computer storage. The value of a terabyte based upon a decimal radix is defined as one 1000000000000 bytes, or 1000 gigabytes....
 respectively.






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Encyclopedia


File size measure
Measure

Measure can mean:* Measurement, the process of estimating the magnitude of some attribute of an object relative to some unit of measurement* Measure , a way to assign non-negative real numbers to subsets...
s the size
Size

The word size may refer to how big something is. In particular:* Measurement* Dimensions: length, width, height, diameter, perimeter, area, volume...
 of a computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
 file
Computer file

A computer file is a block of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable computer storage....
. Typically it is measured in byte
Byte

A byte is a basic unit of measurement of Computer storage in computer science. In many computer architectures it is a Byte addressing memory address space....
s with a prefix
Prefix

A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. The word "prefix" is itself made up of the stem fix , and the prefix pre- , both of which are derived from Latin root s....
. The actual amount of disk space consumed by the file depends on the file system
File system

In computing, a file system is a method for store and organize computer files and the data they contain to make it easy to find and access them....
.

The maximum file size a file system supports depends on the number of bit
Bit

A bit is a binary numeral system numerical digit, taking a value of either 0 or 1. Binary digits are a basic unit of information Computer data storage and transmission in digital computing and digital information theory....
s reserved to store size information and the total size of the file system. For example, with FAT32
File Allocation Table

File Allocation Table or FAT is a computer file system architecture now widely used on most computer systems and most memory cards, such as those used with digital cameras....
, the size of one file cannot be equal or larger than 4 GiB
Gibibyte

Gibibyte is a unit of Computer data storage, abbreviated GiB.The gibibyte is closely related to the gigabyte, which can either be a synonym for gibibyte, or refer to 109 bytes = 1,000,000,000 bytes, depending on context ....
.

Some common file size units are:

  • 1 KiB
    Kibibyte

    A kibibyte is a unit of information or computer storage, established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000. Its symbol is KiB....
     = 1,024 bytes


  • 1 MiB
    Mebibyte

    The Mebibyte is a standards-based binary prefix of the byte, a unit of Computer data storage. Mebibyte is abbreviated MiB.The unit prefix mebi was defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission in December 1998....
     = 1,048,576 bytes


  • 1 GiB
    Gibibyte

    Gibibyte is a unit of Computer data storage, abbreviated GiB.The gibibyte is closely related to the gigabyte, which can either be a synonym for gibibyte, or refer to 109 bytes = 1,000,000,000 bytes, depending on context ....
     = 1,073,741,824 bytes


  • 1 TiB
    Tebibyte

    A tebibyte is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated TiB.The tebibyte is closely related to the terabyte, which can be either a synonym for tebibyte, or refer to 1012 bytes = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, depending on context ....
     = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes .


These units are often described using the terms KB
Kilobyte

Kilobyte is a unit of Computer data storage equal to either 1,024 bytes or 1,000 bytes , depending on context.It is abbreviated in a number of ways: KB, kB, K and Kbyte....
, MB
Megabyte

Megabyte is a SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for digital information computer storage or transmission and is equal to 106 bytes....
, GB
Gigabyte

Gigabyte is an SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for Computer data storage. Since the giga- prefix means 109, gigabyte means 1,000,000,000 bytes ....
 and TB
Terabyte

A terabyte is a measurement term for computer storage. The value of a terabyte based upon a decimal radix is defined as one 1000000000000 bytes, or 1000 gigabytes....
 respectively. This is technically imprecise, because the prefixes kilo, mega, giga and tera refer respectively to multiplication by 10^3, 10^6, 10^9 and 10^12. However, the power-of-two based prefixes have yet to find widespread usage, so some ambiguity remains. For example, a hard disk
Hard disk

A hard disk drive , commonly referred to as a hard drive, hard disk, or fixed disk drive, is a non-volatile storage device which stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating hard disk platters with magnetic surfaces....
 which is described by its maker as having a capacity of 200 GB will have a capacity very close to 200 * 10^9 bytes. Yet, when such a disk is freshly formatted and installed in a machine running Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
 Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
 XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....
, the operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
 will report the size as approximately 186 GB. This value can vary slightly depending on the exact capacity of the drive, which file system is used and so on. This is because Windows is actually reporting the size in GiB and 186 GiB is approximately equal to 200 GB.

Conversion Table


Name Symbol Binary Measurement Decimal Measurement Number of Bytes Equal to
KiloByte KB 2^10 10^3 1,024 1,024 Bytes
MegaByte MB 2^20 10^6 1,048,576 1,024KB
GigaByte GB 2^30 10^9 1,073,741,824 1,024MB
TeraByte TB 2^40 10^12 1,099,511,627,776 1,024GB
PetaByte PB 2^50 10^15 1,125,899,906,842,624 1,024TB
ExaByte EB 2^60 10^18 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 1,024PB
ZettaByte ZB 2^70 10^21 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 1,024EB
YottaByte YB 2^80 10^24 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 1,024ZB