All Bytes in Order From KB to YB: Memory Units Explained

Steve Jobs famously said you can’t connect the dots looking forward. Thirty-five years ago, portable computer storage still meant carrying 1.44 megabytes of data on a 3.5-inch disk. Thankfully, by 2000, the first-ever Universal Serial Bus (USB)-based flash memory drive promised to make our lives easier.

Scrambling for efficient digital storage continues on memory cards, solid-state drives, and cloud storage solutions. But the numbers involved have taken us from megabytes to terabytes.

How did we get here? And where will our insatiable appetite for computing power take us next?

As we ponder the possibility of a future consisting of brontobytes and geopbytes, we will guide you through the byte hierarchy and explore byte sizes from smallest to largest.

Key Takeaways

8-bit systems defined early gaming and gave birth to cultural icons like the Mario Brothers.
3.5-inch disks offered 1.44 megabytes of storage but were replaced by computer hard drives by the mid-nineties.
The smartphone in your pocket can now store between 64GB and 1TB.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) uses 45 petabytes per week and is expected to double this number.
By 2025, 463 exabytes of data will be created daily, equivalent to 212,765,957 DVDs.
After yottabyte, the next theoretical level would be brontobyte, followed by a geopbyte.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

Key Takeaways
Bits & Bytes
Byte Sizes in Order: Explaining Data Units
Where Do We Go From Here?
The Bottom Line
FAQs
References

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways
Bits & Bytes
Byte Sizes in Order: Explaining Data Units

Show Full Guide

Where Do We Go From Here?
The Bottom Line
FAQs
References

Bits & Bytes

Data storage and computing foundations can be traced back to binary digits and the combination of 0s and 1s in many patterns. These binary digits are called bits, the smallest possible data storage units. When 8 bits are combined, you get a byte.

8-bit systems were the first to bring affordable, widespread home gaming to the masses. The pixel art style became a defining aesthetic of the era and gave birth to the gaming characters we love today, like the Mario brothers. Our journey through bytes by size begins here.

Byte Sizes in Order: Explaining Data Units

All Byte Sizes in Order

Kilobyte (KB) – 1,024 Bytes

A kilobyte (KB) is the equivalent of 1,024 bytes.

A single page of plain text can be as little as 2 KB.
A small email without attachments is typically around 10-30 KB.
The average size of Word documents with components is 550 KB.
Documents without images can be around 110 KB.

Megabyte (MB) – 1,024 KB

One megabyte (MB) is 1,024 KB. But what does this mean in real terms?

A typical digital photo can be around 2-5 MB.
The average size of an mp3 song is around 5 MB.
Elsewhere in your digital life, the average length of a mobile app on your smartphone is usually around 10-100 MB.

Gigabyte (GB) – 1,024 MB

A gigabyte (GB) is 1024 megabytes, which will be familiar territory for most people reading this.

Most smartphone models offer between 64-512 GB of storage and even 1TB if your budget allows.
According to Netflix, a standard-definition movie can be up to 1 GB.
High definition is closer to 3GB.
An ultra-high definition (4K) download can be up to 7 GB.
But videogame downloads can be anywhere between 20GB and a whopping 150 GB.

Terabyte (TB) – 1,024 GB

In 2024, terabytes (TB) of information are as far as consumers can go. One terabyte – 1,024 GB – is smaller than you think if you consume and generate lots of media.

For example, professional photographers and video editors can easily generate 1 TB of data in a busy month.
As the size of 4K and other digital content continues to rise, our insatiable appetite for computer storage will continue.
As a result, consumer hard drives offering anywhere from 1-20 TB of storage are becoming more affordable.

Petabyte (PB) – 1,024 TB

This is where things get interesting. One petabyte (PB) is the equivalent of 1,024 TB.

To put this into context, Facebook produces around 4 PB every day.
However, this is tiny compared to the rate of data production of the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is currently reaching 45 petabytes per week and is expected to double.

Exabyte (EB) – 1,024 PB

You could be forgiven for shouting “Great Scott” like Back to the Future’s Doc Brown upon learning that an exabyte (EB) is equivalent to 1 billion gigabytes (GB), 1,000 petabytes (PB) or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes (B).

According to the World Economic Forum, by 2025, 463 exabytes of data will be created daily, equivalent to 212,765,957 DVDs daily.

Zettabyte (ZB) – 1,024 EB

The scale of data storage required can be difficult to comprehend upon learning that one zettabyte (ZB) equals a thousand exabytes, a billion terabytes, or a trillion gigabytes.

But with AI scraping the internet and consuming as much data as it can, computer storage is expected to continue to grow at an alarming rate and go beyond its biggest byte status.

In the International System of Units (SI), a zettabyte is defined as 1,000 exabytes, which equals 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes.
In contrast, according to traditional binary measurement, one zettabyte corresponds to 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bytes, also known as 1 zebibyte (ZiB).

Yottabyte (YB) – 1,024 ZB

We are now approaching the kind of numbers that could make your head explode. If you dare to feel the force of the zeroes, one yottabyte of storage would be the equivalent of one quadrillion gigabytes or a million trillion megabytes.

Using SI, one yottabyte is equivalent to 1,000 zettabytes.
Using traditional binary measurement, one yottabyte is equivalent to 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes, also equivalent to 1 yobibyte (YiB).

Where Do We Go From Here?

Different Byte Sizes on the Horizon

When looking at the smallest to largest bytes, the next theoretical level would be brontobyte, followed by a geopbyte. But this is unimaginable territory and a rabbit hole for another life.

A brontobyte is 1 quadrillion gigabytes or 1,024 yottabytes.
A geopbyte is equal to 1,024 brontobytes, or 1,267,650,600,228,229,401,496,703,205,376 bytes.
Geopbyte is a unit of data storage that is so large it could store millions or thousands of libraries.

The Bottom Line

Our journey through all types of bytes in order from kilobytes to yottabytes in the expanding universe of computer storage sizes underscores a profound transformation in technology and data management.

This expansion of different types of bytes and byte levels—from the list of bytes known today to future possibilities—highlights an incredible scale of growth and innovation for a new era of AI everywhere.

This evolving narrative is not about nostalgia or even technical progression. It’s about preparing for a future where data volume and velocity will challenge our current understanding and capabilities. Or maybe Doc Brown said it best when he exclaimed, “Great Scott!”