Kilobyte (KB)
The kilobyte, symbolized as KB, represents 1,000 bytes in the decimal system (SI), although in computing, it is commonly approximated as 1,024 bytes. The unit emerged in the 1960s as computer memory and storage expanded and was used for measuring small file sizes, such as text documents and early software. The kilobyte reflects the practical intersection of metric and binary measurements, which led to the introduction of binary-specific units, such as the kibibyte. Kilobytes are still used in some legacy systems and file specifications.
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.