Which is Bigger: MB or GB? 2025 The Definitive Guide

MB and GB are units used to measure computer data storage. The differences between them are important but often confusing for those who don't know much about computers or data storage systems.

MB stands for megabytes, while GB stands for gigabytes. They are very different units, and knowing the difference between them is an important part of choosing a computer or a hard disk.

If you're not sure which is bigger, MB or GB, this article will help you understand the difference between them. Before we start, let's take a quick look at the units used to measure computer data storage.

What is Bit?

The smallest unit of data is a bit. It can be either off or on, representing one or zero. Think of it as either being there or not being there at all. Groups of 8 bits are called bytes. A byte can hold 256 different combinations, depending on how many 0's and 1's are in the group of 8 bits.

What is Byte?

A byte is a unit of data that consists of 8 bits. It is the smallest unit of storage that a computer uses to represent data. Eight bits equal one byte, meaning a byte can hold 256 possible values. It can be used to represent alphabetic characters, punctuation, or other symbols.

What is KiloByte or KB??

A kilobyte is simply a larger unit of data than a byte. It consists of 1024 bytes. Information stored on your computers, such as word documents or spreadsheets, is stored in units of kilobytes.

The actual size of each unit varies depending on how they are formatted, but most documents are around 6-10 kilobytes in size.

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What is MegaByte or MB?

A megabyte is a larger unit of data than a byte or kilobyte. It consists of 1024 kilobytes, which means it can hold about 1 million bytes of information. Information stored on your computers, such as photos or videos, is stored in units of megabytes.

As with kilobytes, the actual size of each unit varies depending on how they are formatted. However, a very large photo can be around 3-5 megabytes in size, or a song stored as an MP3 is equal to about 10 megabytes.

What is GigaByte or GB?

A gigabyte is a larger unit of data than a megabyte, and it consists of 1024 megabytes. It can hold around 1 billion bytes of information.

Gigabytes are mainly used to represent information stored on hard drives or servers, such as large backups or lengthy video files. A typical hard drive installed on a computer is about 500 gigabytes in size.

What is TeraByte or TB?

A terabyte is a larger unit of data than a gigabyte, and it consists of 1024 gigabytes. It can hold around 1 trillion bytes of information.

Terabytes are mainly used to represent massive collections of information, such as backups taken every day for years at a time. A typical external hard drive ranges from 2-4 terabytes in size.

What is PetaByte or PB?

A petabyte is a larger unit of data than a terabyte, and it consists of 1024 terabytes. It can hold around one quadrillion bytes of information. Petabytes are mainly used to represent large collections of video, audio, or other media files.

A typical movie can range from 5-10 gigabytes in size, so a petabyte could hold around 1 million movies. Since there are 1024 terabytes in a petabyte, it would take about 1000 of those external hard drives to fill up a petabyte as well.

Which is Bigger: MB or GB?

GB is bigger than MB. A megabyte contains 1024 kilobytes, but a gigabyte contains 1024 megabytes. This means that a gigabyte is bigger than a megabyte. The same goes for larger units of storage - terabytes are larger than gigabytes, and petabytes are larger than terabytes.

On the other hand, KB is always smaller than MB, and there is 1024 KB in every MB. Similarly, GB is also smaller than TB, and there is 1024 GB in every TB.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

MB stands for megabytes, which is 1024 kilobytes. GB stands for gigabytes, which is 1024 megabytes. If you're still not sure, which is bigger, MB or GB, remember that gigabytes are always bigger than megabytes!

Now that you know the difference between megabytes and gigabytes, you can start shopping around for an external hard drive that has the storage capacity you need. Make sure to always choose a hard drive with more space than you think you'll need because it's better to have too much storage than not enough!