When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn What Does SI Prefix Mean?
The SI prefixes are a series of prefixes to units in the International System of Units, or SI. These can denote very small or very large amounts. They are most commonly used in computing to refer to storage space, such as bytes, even though storage is not an official SI unit.
Techopedia Explains SI Prefix
SI prefixes denote the amounts of SI units, commonly known as the metric system. They are based on powers of ten.
- yotta: 1024
- zetta: 1021
- exa: 1018
- peta: 1015
- tera: 1012
- giga: 109
- mega: 106
- kilo: 103
- hecto: 102
- deci: 10-1
- centi: 10-2
- milli: 10-3
- micro: 10-6
- nano: 10-9
- pico: 10-12
- femto: 10-15
- atto: 10-18
- zepto: 10-21
- yocto: 10-24
The mega, giga and kilo prefixes are familiar to many people even in countries where imperial measurements are more common, such as the U.S., thanks to their usage for measuring computer storage. For example, one gigabyte is 1,000 bytes. These prefixes also have other usages in computing. Since the components on hardware circuit boards are so small, they are usually measured in micrometers or microns.
