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.
Mebibyte (MiB)
The mebibyte, symbol MiB, equals 1,048,576 bytes (1,024 KiB) and was introduced by the IEC in 1998 to eliminate ambiguity between MB (decimal) and MiB (binary). It is commonly used in operating systems, memory specifications, and technical documentation where exact binary measurement is required. Mebibytes provide clarity and consistency, especially in software development and systems engineering, ensuring accurate memory allocation, storage calculations, and file size reporting.