Standards For Prefixes and Suffixes
See also: Bit rate for the differences between gross bitrate and net bitrate and between throughput and goodput.To be as explicit as possible, both the prefix and the suffix of the unit must be known. For example, the abbreviation 2 Mb can actually be expanded in 4 different ways (mega- vs mebi- and -bit vs -byte). The difference in the associated numbers can be significant:
| Unit | Bits | Bits / 1,000,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Mega-bit | 1,000,000 | 1.0 |
| Mebi-bit | 1,048,576 | 1.05 |
| Mega-byte | 8,000,000 | 8.0 |
| Mebi-byte | 8,388,608 | 8.39 |
The table above shows an approximate 5% difference between the corresponding mega- and mebi- units with a 800% difference between -bit and -byte units. Explicitness in units is important because difference can become even larger across different prefix units.
Read more about this topic: Data Rate Units
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