How many MB are in 1 GB? How to convert correctly

We often hear terms like KB, MB and GB on storage devices such as USB drives, memory cards, computer and phone memory, and when signing up for a 3G or 4G data plan. What do these figures mean? How do you convert between them? And the question many people ask: how many MB is 1GB, all of which is answered in the guide below from Mona Media.

What is a GB?

To convert between units in any situation, you first need to understand the definitions behind them. So what does GB mean? Let's find out. GB is short for gigabyte, a multiple of the byte, the unit used to measure digital information. A byte is a common digital unit made up of 8 bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode one text character in a computer, which is why it became the smallest addressable unit of memory in many computer architectures. The prefix giga means 10 to the power of 9 in the SI system, so 1 gigabyte equals 1,000,000,000 bytes. Gigabyte is now abbreviated GB (not to be confused with Gb, which means gigabit).

What is an MB?

To understand how many MB make 1GB, we need to know what MB means. A megabyte is another multiple of the byte for measuring digital information, and its symbol is MB. The prefix mega is a factor of one million (10^6) in the International System of Units (SI), so 1 megabyte equals 1,000,000 bytes of information. This definition was adopted directly into the international system of units. There are other common units too, such as KB (kilobyte) and TB (terabyte), used to measure storage on any device. Typical examples of memory measured in these units are hard drives, RAM, memory cards, 4G, 3G and so on. Example: Dell Latitude E7440 laptop, Core i5 4300U / 4G RAM / 128G SSD. So, under the SI system, the answer to how many MB are in 1GB follows this formula: 1GB = 1024MB = 1048576KB By this unit of measure, 1GB (Gigabyte) = 1024MB (Megabytes). So if your songs are MP3s encoded at 128kbps, 1GB of storage can hold 250 to 300 songs. As the amount of data we use and store keeps growing, and the world has huge volumes of information to keep, hard drives and memory cards with large capacity are used more and more. Among them, the terabyte (TB) is a widely used storage unit. For example, the compact Asus P550LDV-XO517D laptop has 4GB of RAM and a hard drive of up to 1 terabyte. From this we can also see how many GB make up 1TB. 1 TB = 1024 GB = 1.048.567 MB = 1.073.741.824 KB We also use these units to measure internet usage. Besides how many MB make 1GB, there are plenty of other questions when signing up for 3G and 4G plans: how long can you watch movies on 1GB? How many songs and films can you download with 1 GB? How much music can you listen to?

Table of units

Name	Values
1 Byte	8 Bits
1KB (Kilobyte)	1024B (Bytes)
1MB (Megabyte)	1024KB (Kilobytes)
1GB (Gigabyte)	1024MB (Megabytes)
1TB (Terabyte)	1024GB (Gigabytes)
1PB (Petabyte)	1024TB (Terabytes)
1EB (Exabyte)	1024PB (Petabytes)
1ZB (Zettabyte)	1024EB (Exabytes)
1YB (Yottabyte)	1024ZB (Zettabytes)

How many MB is 1GB?

1GB = 1024MB Exact examples:

• If each song (mp4) is about 4MB, 1GB holds around 256 songs
• If each photo is 3MB, 1GB can store up to 340 photos.

Counting 3G and 4G data isn't really different from counting on storage hardware. An ordinary user typically signs up for plans of 1GB to 2GB a month, while some people whose work needs more take bigger plans, up to 90 to 120GB a month. Did you know that one minute of online video uses about 60MB, so 1GB gives you only about 17 minutes of viewing? Reading news or scrolling Facebook costs at least 1MB per minute, not counting any video you watch on those sites; sending or receiving one email is about 10KB, one minute of online music is 1MB, and one match of a mobile MOBA game can use 40MB to 50MB. If you haven't signed up for a plan made for gaming or video on mobile data, use Wi-Fi for movies, online games and music. Usage is also higher at Full HD, HD, 2K or 4K, depending on what you choose to watch.

How to convert data when using the internet

Below is a table for converting data when using the internet, to help you get more out of your 3G and 4G data. Take a look.

Sending or receiving Gmail	10KB each
Watching video	4MB/minute
Sharing or commenting on Zalo, Facebook, etc.	20KB each
Playing one round of a mobile MOBA (Arena of Valor, AoE)	30-50MB
Browsing Facebook, Zalo, Instagram, etc.	1MB/minute
Listening to online music	1MB/minute

We hope this guide has helped you answer questions about how many MB is 1GB and understand how unit and data conversion work, so you can use 3G and 4G data more efficiently.