Kibibyte (KiB)
The kibibyte, symbol KiB, is a binary unit equal to 1,024 bytes, introduced by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 1998. The unit addresses the difference between metric kilobytes (1,000 bytes) and binary kilobytes (1,024 bytes) in digital systems. Kibibytes are used in operating systems, file systems, and technical documentation for precise, unambiguous measurement. This clarity supports accurate handling of digital memory and storage.
Gibibyte (GiB)
The gibibyte, symbol GiB, is a binary unit of digital information equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes (1,024 mebibytes). Introduced by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 1998, it was created to clearly distinguish binary measurements from decimal-based gigabytes (GB), which can equal 1,000,000,000 bytes. Gibibytes are commonly used in operating systems, software engineering, and computer hardware specifications to ensure precise calculations for memory and storage. By using gibibytes, developers and IT professionals avoid ambiguity when reporting RAM, file sizes, and storage capacity, maintaining accuracy across platforms and systems.