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Data transfer rate converter (Mbps to MB/s)

Convert Mbps to MB/s, Gbps to MB/s and kbps to kB/s. Network speeds are quoted in bits per second; file sizes and download meters in bytes.

Updated Checked against 4 worked examples

A number in the “from” unit, or with its own unit
Try
Converted value
MB/s
Converted value: 12.5 MB/s
Shown to 12 significant figures, half-up
Conversion
100 Mbit/s = 12.5 MB/s
Conversion factor
0.125
Exactness
Exact

100 Mbit/s is exactly 12.5 MB/s. One megabit per second is exactly 0.125 MB/s.

The same amount counted in each unit

Mbit/s100 Mbit/sMB/s12.5 MB/s
100 Mbit/s in every data transfer unit (12 rows)
UnitValueDefinition
bit per second (bit/s)100,000,000Base unit
kilobit per second (kbit/s)100,0001 kbit/s = 1,000 bit/s, exact
megabit per second (Mbit/s)1001 Mbit/s = 1,000,000 bit/s, exact
gigabit per second (Gbit/s)0.11 Gbit/s = 1,000,000,000 bit/s, exact
terabit per second (Tbit/s)0.00011 Tbit/s = 1,000,000,000,000 bit/s, exact
byte per second (B/s)12,500,0001 B/s = 8 bit/s, exact
kilobyte per second (kB/s)12,5001 kB/s = 8,000 bit/s, exact
megabyte per second (MB/s)12.51 MB/s = 8,000,000 bit/s, exact
gigabyte per second (GB/s)0.01251 GB/s = 8,000,000,000 bit/s, exact
kibibyte per second (KiB/s)12,207.031251 KiB/s = 8,192 bit/s, exact
mebibyte per second (MiB/s)11.920931 MiB/s = 8,388,608 bit/s, exact
gibibyte per second (GiB/s)0.011641531 GiB/s = 8,589,934,592 bit/s, exact
How it's calculated S
  1. Convert megabit per second to bit per second

    100 Mbit/s×1,000,000 bit/sMbit/s=100,000,000 bit/s100\ \text{Mbit/s} \times 1{,}000{,}000\ \tfrac{\text{bit/s}}{\text{Mbit/s}} = 100{,}000{,}000\ \text{bit/s}

    1 Mbit/s = 1,000,000 bit/s, exact

  2. Convert bit per second to megabyte per second

    100,000,000 bit/s÷8,000,000 bit/sMB/s=12.5 MB/s100{,}000{,}000\ \text{bit/s} \div 8{,}000{,}000\ \tfrac{\text{bit/s}}{\text{MB/s}} = 12.5\ \text{MB/s}

    1 MB/s = 8,000,000 bit/s, exact

  3. Combined factor

    1 Mbit/s=1,000,0008,000,000 MB/s=0.125 MB/s1\ \text{Mbit/s} = \frac{1{,}000{,}000}{8{,}000{,}000}\ \text{MB/s} = 0.125\ \text{MB/s}

    Both units are defined exactly and the converted value is a terminating decimal, so every digit shown in it is exact.

About the data transfer rate converter

Network speeds are quoted in bits per second and file sizes in bytes, and a byte is 8 bits, so megabits per second divide by 8 to give megabytes per second. Each rate unit is a fixed number of bits per second, with decimal prefixes (1 Mbit/s = 10⁶ bit/s) kept apart from binary ones (1 MiB/s = 2²⁰ bytes per second).

The default converts a 100 Mbit/s broadband plan to 12.5 MB/s, the most a download can show in megabytes per second, or 11.92 MiB/s in a program that counts in binary units. A 1 Gbit/s connection tops out at 125 MB/s.

Real transfers run below the line rate because every packet carries headers: over Ethernet with TCP/IPv4, at most 1,460 of every 1,538 bytes on the wire are data, 94.9%. The download time calculator applies that overhead to a file size.

Worked examples

100 Mbit/s in MB/s

Value
100 Mbit/s
From
megabit per second (Mbit/s)
To
megabyte per second (MB/s)
Converted value
12.5 MB/s

Checked against: 100 × 10⁶ bit/s ÷ 8 bit/B ÷ 10⁶ = 12.5

1 Gbit/s in MB/s

Value
1 Gbit/s
From
gigabit per second (Gbit/s)
To
megabyte per second (MB/s)
Converted value
125 MB/s

Checked against: 10⁹ / 8 / 10⁶ = 125

1 MiB/s in Mbit/s

Value
1 MiB/s
From
mebibyte per second (MiB/s)
To
megabit per second (Mbit/s)
Converted value
8.388608 Mbit/s

Checked against: 2²⁰ × 8 / 10⁶ = 8.388608

1 bit/s in kB/s (tiny value)

Value
1 bit/s
From
bit per second (bit/s)
To
kilobyte per second (kB/s)
Converted value
0.000125 kB/s

Checked against: 1 / 8 / 1000 = 0.000125

Questions

How many MB/s is 100 Mbps?

12.5 MB/s. Divide megabits per second by 8, because a byte is 8 bits: 100 ÷ 8 = 12.5. Programs that count in binary units show 11.92 MiB/s for the same speed, and protocol overhead takes about another 5%, so expect around 11.9 MB/s on a wired 100 Mbit/s link.

What is the difference between Mbps and MBps?

Mbps (Mbit/s) is megabits per second; MBps (MB/s) is megabytes per second, 8 times larger. Internet plans and Wi-Fi speeds are sold in Mbps, while browsers and download managers usually show MB/s, so a 50 Mbps plan appears as 6.25 MB/s. The case of the b is the only visible difference.

How fast is 1 Gbps in MB/s?

125 MB/s: 1,000,000,000 bits ÷ 8 = 125,000,000 bytes per second, which is 119.21 MiB/s in binary units. At that rate a 50 GB download takes 400 seconds, 6 min 40 s, before protocol overhead is added.

Why is my download slower than my internet speed?

Part of the gap is units and part is overhead. A plan quoted at 100 Mbit/s is 12.5 MB/s at most, and TCP/IP and Ethernet headers use about 5% of that, leaving about 11.9 MB/s. Wi-Fi signal, the far server and other devices on the connection reduce it further, which this converter does not model.

How many Mbps is 1 MiB/s?

8.388608 Mbit/s. One MiB/s is 1,048,576 bytes per second, and 1,048,576 × 8 = 8,388,608 bits per second. A tool that reports MiB/s therefore shows a number 4.6% lower than the same speed in MB/s.

How accurate is the data transfer rate converter?

Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 4 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “100 Mbit/s in MB/s” is checked against 100 × 10⁶ bit/s ÷ 8 bit/B ÷ 10⁶ = 12.5.

Where does the method come from?

NIST SP 811 (2008), Guide for the Use of the SI, Appendix B — conversion factors; NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C — General tables of units of measurement; NIST — Prefixes for binary multiples (IEC 80000-13).

About this calculator

xto=xfrom×ffromftof=one unit expressed in bit/s\begin{gathered} x_{\text{to}} = x_{\text{from}} \times \dfrac{f_{\text{from}}}{f_{\text{to}}} \\ f = \text{one unit expressed in } \text{bit/s} \end{gathered}

Sources

  1. NIST SP 811 (2008), Guide for the Use of the SI, Appendix B — conversion factors
  2. NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C — General tables of units of measurement
  3. NIST — Prefixes for binary multiples (IEC 80000-13)

Checked against references

4 worked examples with independently sourced answers ship with this calculator. They run in the test suite; you can run them here too.

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