The International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) prefixes for
binary multiples for use in the fields of
data processing and
data transmission are as follows:
Factor Name Symbol Origin Derivation
210 kibi Ki kilobinary: (210)1 kilo: (103)1
220 mebi Mi megabinary: (210)2 mega: (103)2
230 gibi Gi gigabinary: (210)3 giga: (103)3
240 tebi Ti terabinary: (210)4 tera: (103)4
250 pebi Pi petabinary: (210)5 peta: (103)5
260 exbi Ei exabinary: (210)6 exa: (103)6
Examples and comparisons with SI prefixes
one kibibit = 1 Kibit = 210 bit = 1024 bit
one kilobit = 1 kbit = 103 bit = 1000 bit
one mebibyte = 1 MiB = 220 B = 1 048 576 B
one megabyte = 1 MB = 106 B = 1 000 000 B
one gibibyte = 1 GiB = 230 B = 1 073 741 824 B
one gigabyte = 1 GB = 109 B = 1 000 000 000 B
It is suggested that in English, the first syllable of the name of the binary-multiple prefix should be pronounced in the same way as the first syllable of the name of the corresponding SI prefix, and that the second syllable should be pronounced as "bee."