Megabit

The megabit is a unit of information storage, commonly abbreviated "Mb".

1 megabit = 10⁶ = 1,000,000 bits or 2²⁰ = 1,048,576 bits (see Binary prefix).

The megabit is most commonly used when referring to data transfer rates in internet and network speeds, e.g. a 100 Mbit/s Fast Ethernet connection. It is the most common unit of measure for individual computer memory chips and in some circles entire memory modules (such as video game cartridges for systems like the Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64). Telecommunications engineers uniformly define a megabit as 10⁶ bits, while computer memory typically is measured in units of 2²⁰ bits.

The megabit is closely related to the mebibit, which is unambiguously equal to 2²⁰ = 1,048,576 bits.

kilobit << megabit << gigabit

See also

• Binary prefix