Check Your Knowledge of Web Abbreviations and Mnemonics

b

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Bits. The lower case b stands for bits.

B

Reveal Answer

Bytes. The uppercase B stands for bytes.

K

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Kilo, or 1,000. Whether an uppercase K or a lower case k, it stands for 1,000.

k

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Kilo, or 1,000. Whether an uppercase K or a lower case k, it stands for 1,000.

KB

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Kilobytes, or 1000 bytes. The K stands for 1,000 and the uppercase B stands for bytes. So, for example, 400KB stands for 400,000 bytes.

Kb or kb

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Kilobits. The K stands for 1,000 and the b stands for bits. So, for example, 400Kb is 400,000 bits.

Kbps or kbps

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Kilobits per second. The K stands for 1,000, and the lowercase b stands for bit, and ps stands for seconds. So, for example, 400Kbps is 400,000 bits per second of transmission.

M

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Mega, or 1,000,000. The M stands for one million.

MB

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Megabytes. The M stands for 1,000,000 and the B stands for bytes. So, for example, 400MB is 400,000,000 bytes.

Mbps

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Megabits per second. The M stands for 1,000,000, the b stands for bits, and ps stands for "per second". So, for example, 4Mbps refers to a transmission speed of 4,000,000 bits per second.

Megapixels

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One million pixels. Mega stands for 1,000,000.

G

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Giga, or 1,000,000,000. The G stands for bilion.

GB

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Gigabytes. The G stands for 1,000,000,000 and the B stands for bytes. So, for example, 400GB is 400,000,000,000 bytes.

Gbps

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Gigabits per second. The G stands for 1,000,000,000, the b stands for bits, and the s stands for "per second". So, for example, 4Gbps refers to a transmission speed of 4,000,000,000 bits per second.

T

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Tera, or 1,000,000,000,000. The T stands for trillion.

TB

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Terabytes. The T stands for 1,000,000,000,000 and the B stands for bytes. So, for example, 1.5TB is 1,500,000,000,000 bytes.

Where might we find reference to these various terms?

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Examples include:

• On the box of a new disk drive, specifying the storage capacity of the drive.
• In the information about a file on a hard drive, specifying the size of the file.
• In the specifications for an Internet connection, specifying the highest rated speed of the connection in bits per second.

Why do we need to know this stuff?

Reveal Answer

We would remain clueless about what we were getting when we bought storage devices and how much they would hold in terms of the media we would plan to store on them. We would also remain clueless about what the download speeds are that we are paying for and whether we are getting our money's worth. In addition, we would not understand why and how media must be reformulated in terms of file size and/or bits per second (in the case of video) for transmission across the Internet for inclusion in a webpage.