EB to ZB converter

What are exabytes and zettabytes?

Exabytes (EB) and zettabytes (ZB) are units for measuring digital information. They belong to two distinct measurement systems:

1. SI (International System of Units) - Base-10 system:

   • 1 exabyte (EB) = $10^{18}$ bytes = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes
   • 1 zettabyte (ZB) = $10^{21}$ bytes = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes

2. Binary (IEC standard) - Base-2 system:

   • 1 exbibyte (EiB) = $2^{60}$ bytes = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes
   • 1 zebibyte (ZiB) = $2^{70}$ bytes = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bytes

These units quantify massive-scale data storage, like global internet traffic or cloud infrastructure.

Understanding data storage units: SI vs. binary systems

Historically, computer scientists used SI prefixes (kilo, mega, giga) for binary-based storage, causing confusion. In 1998, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) introduced binary prefixes (kibi, mebi, gibi) to resolve this:

• SI units (base-10): Use powers of 10. Common in networking, storage marketing, and telecommunications.
• Binary units (base-2): Use powers of 2. Reflect how computers address memory/storage.

For example, a “1 terabyte” hard drive marketed using SI units contains $10^{12}$ bytes, but a computer reports ~931 gibibytes ($2^{30} \times 931$) due to binary addressing.

Conversion formulas

SI system (base-10):

Binary system (IEC base-2):

Cross-system conversions (e.g., EB to ZiB):

Practical examples of EB to ZB conversions

Example 1: SI units

A data center stores 25,000 EB of user data. Convert to zettabytes:

Example 2: Binary units

A supercomputer cluster uses 5,120 EiB of memory. Convert to zebibytes:

Example 3: Cross-system conversion

Convert 3,000 EB to zebibytes:

1. Convert EB to bytes: $3{,}000 \times 10^{18}$ bytes
2. Convert bytes to ZiB: $\frac{3{,}000 \times 10^{18}}{2^{70}} = \frac{3 \times 10^{21}}{1{,}180{,}591{,}620{,}717{,}411{,}303{,}424} \approx 2.54\ \text{ZiB}$

Frequently asked questions

How many exabytes are in a zettabyte?

In the SI system, 1 zettabyte (ZB) = 1,000 exabytes (EB). In the binary system, 1 zebibyte (ZiB) = 1,024 exbibytes (EiB).

Why do SI and binary systems yield different results?

SI units use base-10 (aligned with metric prefixes), while binary units use base-2 (aligned with computer architecture). For example:

• 1 EB = $10^{18}$ bytes
• 1 EiB = $2^{60} \approx 1.1529 \times 10^{18}$ bytes
  Thus, 1 EiB is ~15.3% larger than 1 EB.

When should I use SI vs. binary units?

• SI units (EB/ZB): Best for telecommunications, storage hardware marketing, and network bandwidth.
• Binary units (EiB/ZiB): Essential for OS memory allocation, file systems, and programming.

Is “zettabyte” the largest data unit?

No. Larger units include:

• SI: yottabyte (YB) = $10^{24}$ bytes = 1,000 ZB
• Binary: yobibyte (YiB) = $2^{80}$ bytes = 1,024 ZiB

How much data does 1 ZB represent?

1 ZB (SI) can store:

• 36,000 years of 4K video streaming
• 250 billion DVDs
• All books ever written, multiplied by 20 million