Kilobit

A kilobit is a unit of information storage, commonly abbreviated "kb" or "Kb".

1 kilobit = 10³ = 1,000 bits or 2¹⁰ = 1,024 bits (see Binary prefix).

It is used most commonly to express internet connection speeds, e.g. a 56 kilobit/s PSTN or 512 kilobit/s broadband connection. Telecommunications engineers use the 1,000 bit definition uniformly.

The kilobit is closely related to the kibibit, which is unambiguously equal to 2¹⁰ = 1,024 bits.

bit << kilobit << megabit

See also

• Binary prefix