Megabits vs. Megabytes: What's the Difference?

Internet terminology can be maddeningly confusing.

Case in point: Megabits and megabytes.

Both refer to units of digital information, but the difference is subtle enough to cause plenty of confusion.

Dont worry – well clear it all up so you never get scolded on Reddit again.

Megabits vs. Megabytes

It all starts with bits and bytes.

A bit is the most basic unit of information in computing.

It can be a one or zero, true or false, yes or no.

A byte is a collection of eight bits.

It takes eight bits to produce one unit of text, like a J or #.

Bytes are how we measure the size of files like movies, images or documents.

Bits are also measures of size, but theyre used in relation to speed.

Youll almost never hear someone talk about bits unless theres a per second right after it.

Now lets add the mega part to the equation.

Mega simply means 1 million.

One megabit is 1 million bits, and the same goes for megabytes.

A megabit is written as Mb, while a megabyte is MB.

Internet speeds are always referred to as Mbps or megabits per second.

Megabytes per second is written as MBps or MB/s.

In fact, its equivalent to 400 megabits per second, which is quite speedy.

One MB (megabyte) is equal to eight Mb (megabit).

So, 1Mbps (megabit per second) is equal to 0.125MBps (megabyte per second).

MB refers to a megabyte, while Mbps refers to megabitsper second.

A megabyte is equal to eight megabits.

Megabits per second (Mbps) are always used when referring to Wi-Fi speeds.

100Mbps (megabits per second) is considered an average download speed for internet service.

In fact, its the bare minimum to meet theFCCs definition of broadband internet speed.