YB to bits converter

What is a yottabyte?

A yottabyte (YB) represents the largest standardized unit of digital storage in the International System of Units (SI). One yottabyte equals:

This unit measures planetary-scale data, like the total internet traffic across decades or global sensor networks.

What is a yobibyte?

The yobibyte (YiB) belongs to the binary system (IEC 80000-13 standard), used in computing contexts where precise power-of-two calculations matter:

Unlike YB, YiB addresses memory alignment and hardware design where binary precision is critical.

Understanding bits and bytes

• Bit: Smallest data unit (0 or 1)
• Byte: 8 bits (fundamental storage unit)

All conversions between YB/YiB and bits require intermediary byte conversions:

Decimal (SI) vs. binary (IEC) systems

Conversion formulas

• YB to bits: $$\text{Bits} = \text{YB} \times (10^{24}) \times 8$$
• YiB to bits: $$\text{Bits} = \text{YiB} \times (2^{80}) \times 8$$
• Cross-system conversion: $$1\ \text{YiB} = 1\ \text{YB} \times \frac{2^{80}}{10^{24}} \approx 1.2089\ \text{YB}$$

Practical examples

1. Scientific data: The Hubble Space Telescope generates 10 TB/year. In yottabytes:

   $$10\ \text{TB} = 0.00000000001\ \text{YB}$$

   Converting to bits:

   $$0.00000000001\ \text{YB} \times 10^{24} \times 8 = 80,000,000,000,000\ \text{bits}$$

2. Global data storage: If humanity stored 1 YB of data:

   $$1\ \text{YB} \times 10^{24} \times 8 = 8 \times 10^{24}\ \text{bits}$$

   Equivalent to transmitting 8 billion 4K movies simultaneously for 1,000 years.

Why two systems exist

• SI units (decimal): Adopted by storage manufacturers (HDDs, SSDs) for simplicity. Aligns with metric prefixes.
• IEC units (binary): Used in software/memory design. Eliminates ambiguity (e.g., 1 KB historically meant 1,024 bytes).

Frequently asked questions

How many bits are in 0.25 YB?

Using the SI formula:

Why does 1 YiB exceed 1 YB in size?

YiB uses binary growth ($2^{80}$), while YB uses decimal ($10^{24}$). Since $2^{10} = 1,024 > 1,000$, binary units accumulate faster:

Can I directly convert YB to YiB?

Yes, using the ratio:

Are yottabytes used in real systems today?

Not yet practically. As of 2024, the largest data centers store exabytes (EB, $10^{18}$ bytes). 1 YB is ~1,000 times current global data.

How long would transferring 1 YiB take on a 100 Gbps network?

First, convert 1 YiB to bits:

Transfer time: