MB to GB Converter

1. How many MegaBytes in a GigaByte?
2. Difference between MB and GB
3. How to convert MegaBytes to GigaBytes
4. MB to GB conversion table

    How many MegaBytes in a GigaByte?

There are two competing definitions of the GigaByte. According to the established binary definition there are 1024 MB in a Gigabyte, while under the SI definition there are 1000 MB in a GigaByte. The SI also defines a new metric - GibiByte (GiB) that is equal to 1024 MB.

Care should be taken that the definition you use is the same as anyone you communicate it with. In our MB to GB converter you can flip a checkbox to use the SI standard for the megabyte, depending on your needs.

    Difference between MB and GB

Both the megabyte and the gigabyte are measures of data stored in a digital medium. The difference is in the capacity they denote. Conversion is often necessary when the capacity of the storage you are considering is expressed in a metric different than the one you are calculating the size in. For example, if you know you need to store 2048 MB and you have a 2TB portable disk drive, will you be able to fit them on it?

The answer is: it depends. Most disk drives are marketed using the SI standard, so 2TB will contain only 2000 MB, or less, depending on your MB definition, so you will not be able to fit the data. If your disk size is in SI units, then 2TB = 2,000,000,000 Bytes which is less than 2048 MB (SI), which are equal to 2,048,000,000 Bytes. If you are using the size in megabytes as reported by your operating system, then they are most likely in proper binary metrics, 2048 MB would be 2,147,483,648 Bytes, or you would require about 7% more storage in SI gigabytes. If you disk drive has 2 TiB capacity, then it will contain exactly 2048 MiB or 2048 MB as reported by your OS.

    How to convert MegaBytes to GigaBytes

Converting Megabytes to Gigabytes is fairly straightforward, once you settle on a definition of the MB and GB. Below you can see two conversions examples, one using the binary and one using the decimal (SI) standard.

MB to GB conversion example

Sample task: convert 512 megabytes to gigabytes (binary, also MiB to GiB). Solution:

Formula:
MB / 1024 = GB
Calculation:
512 MB / 1,024 = 0.50 GB
End result:
512 MB is equal to 0.50 GB

Sample task: convert 512 megabytes to gigabytes (SI). Solution:

Formula:
MB / 1000 = GB
Calculation:
512 MB / 1,000 = 0.5120 GB
End result:
512 MB is equal to 0.5120 GB

    MB to GB conversion table