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A petabit (Pb or Pbit) is a multiple of the bit unit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix peta- (symbol P) is defined in the International System of Units (SI) as a multiplier of 1015 (1 quadrillion, or 1 followed by 15 zeros). Therefore, 1 petabit = 1,000,000,000,000,000 bits. This is equivalent to 1,000 terabits (Tb) or 1,000,000 gigabits (Gb).

As data volumes and network speeds continued to increase dramatically beyond the terabit scale, the petabit became relevant for quantifying extremely large amounts of data and ultra-high transmission capacities. It strictly follows the SI definition of 'peta-' as 1015. The distinction between decimal (petabit, Pb) and binary (pebibit, Pib = 250 bits) became increasingly important at this scale, leading to the formalization of binary prefixes like 'pebi-' by the IEC to avoid ambiguity.

Petabits are primarily used in contexts involving massive data scales:

• Measuring the theoretical or actual data transfer rates of core internet backbones, major international communication links, and large-scale data center networks (often expressed in Pbps - petabits per second).
• Quantifying the aggregate data traffic processed by major internet exchange points (IXPs) or national telecommunications networks over specific timeframes.
• Describing the capacity of cutting-edge optical fiber communication systems and research networks.
• Characterizing the sheer volume of data generated or processed in large scientific endeavors, such as high-energy physics experiments, climate modeling, or large astronomical surveys, especially when discussing data transmission or raw bit counts.
• High-performance computing (HPC) environments dealing with massive datasets.