YB to ZB converter

What are yottabytes and zettabytes?

Yottabyte (YB) and zettabyte (ZB) are units measuring digital data storage capacity. They belong to two distinct measurement systems:

• Decimal system (SI units): Uses base-10 calculations (powers of 10).
  • 1 zettabyte (ZB) = $10^{21}$ bytes
  • 1 yottabyte (YB) = $10^{24}$ bytes
• Binary system (IEC units): Uses base-2 calculations (powers of 2).
  • 1 zebibyte (ZiB) = $2^{70}$ bytes
  • 1 yobibyte (YiB) = $2^{80}$ bytes

Confusion arises when “zettabyte/yottabyte” labels incorrectly describe binary-based storage. IEC standardized new prefixes (zebi/yobi) to eliminate ambiguity.

The SI vs. IEC measurement systems

SI units follow the International System of Quantities:

• Each unit is 1,000× larger than the previous:

• Used by storage manufacturers, network providers, and scientific publications.

IEC units follow International Electrotechnical Commission standards:

• Each unit is 1,024× larger than the previous:

• Used in operating systems (e.g., Windows/macOS RAM display) and software development.

Conversion formulas

• SI units (decimal):

• IEC units (binary):

Conversion reference table

Practical examples

Example 1: A data center stores 0.005 YB of video archives. Convert to ZB (SI) and ZiB (IEC):

• SI: $0.005 \, \text{YB} \times 1{,}000 = 5 \, \text{ZB}$
• IEC: First convert YB to YiB: $0.005 \, \text{YB} \times \frac{1}{1.20893} \approx 0.004136 \, \text{YiB}$
  Then: $0.004136 \, \text{YiB} \times 1{,}024 \approx 4.23 \, \text{ZiB}$

Example 2: A supercomputer processes 50 ZiB of particle physics data. Convert to YB (SI) and YiB (IEC):

• IEC: $50 \, \text{ZiB} \div 1{,}024 \approx 0.0488 \, \text{YiB}$
• SI: $50 \, \text{ZiB} \times 1.18059 \times 10^{-3} \approx 0.059 \, \text{YB}$

Real-world context

• Global data sphere: Estimated at 120 ZB in 2023 (Statista). At 20% annual growth, it could reach 1 YB by ~2040.
• Binary in action: 1 YiB could store 2.5 trillion 4K movies—enough to play non-stop for 500 million years.
• Historical note: “Zetta” and “yotta” derive from Italian (“sette” for seven and “otto” for eight), denoting $10^{21}$ (7th prefix) and $10^{24}$ (8th prefix).

Frequently asked questions

How many ZB in 1 YB?

In SI units:

In IEC units:

Why do we need both SI and IEC units?

SI units simplify calculations for marketing and high-level statistics. IEC units ensure accuracy in computing, where memory allocation relies on binary addressing.

Can I directly convert YB to ZiB?

No—they belong to different systems. First convert YB to YiB (approximating $1 \, \text{YB} \approx 0.827 \, \text{YiB}$), then to ZiB:

What’s larger: 1 YB or 1 YiB?

1 YiB is larger:

• $1 \, \text{YiB} \approx 1.2089 \, \text{YB}$
• Difference: ~20.89% more storage.

How are these units used in cloud storage?

Providers like AWS use SI units for pricing (e.g., $0.023/GB). However, internal systems often use IEC for resource allocation to match hardware architecture.