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Petabit to Terabyte Conversion Calculator: Free Online Tool

Convert petabits to terabytes with our free online data storage converter.

Petabit to Terabyte Calculator

Petabit
Terabyte

How to Use the Calculator:

  1. Enter the value you want to convert in the 'From' field (Petabit).
  2. The converted value in Terabyte will appear automatically in the 'To' field.
  3. Use the dropdown menus to select different units within the Data Storage category.
  4. Click the swap button (⇌) to reverse the conversion direction.

How to Convert Petabit to Terabyte

Converting Petabit to Terabyte involves multiplying the value by a specific conversion factor, as shown in the formula below.

Formula:

1 Petabit = 125 terabytes

Example Calculation:

Convert 10 petabits: 10 × 125 = 1250 terabytes

Disclaimer: For Reference Only

These conversion results are provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, we make no guarantees regarding the precision of these results, especially for conversions involving extremely large or small numbers which may be subject to the inherent limitations of standard computer floating-point arithmetic.

Not for professional use. Results should be verified before use in any critical application. View our Terms of Service for more information.

What is a Petabit and a Terabyte?

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).

A terabyte (TB) is a multiple of the byte unit for digital information storage. The prefix tera- (symbol T) is defined in the International System of Units (SI) as a multiplier of 1012 (1 trillion, or 1 followed by 12 zeros). Therefore, 1 terabyte = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. This is equivalent to 1,000 gigabytes (GB).

Note: The Petabit is part of the imperial/US customary system, primarily used in the US, UK, and Canada for everyday measurements. The Terabyte belongs to the imperial/US customary system.

History of the Petabit and Terabyte

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.

The SI prefix 'tera-' (meaning 1012) was adopted for use in computing as storage capacities reached trillions of bytes. Historically, the term 'terabyte' was often used ambiguously to refer to either 1012 bytes (the strict SI definition) or 240 bytes (1,099,511,627,776 bytes), which is the power of 2 closest to a trillion. This ambiguity, particularly noticeable in how operating systems reported disk sizes versus how manufacturers advertised them, led the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to introduce the distinct binary prefix 'tebi-' (Ti) for 240. Thus, tebibyte (TiB) specifically denotes 240 bytes, while terabyte (TB) formally refers to 1012 bytes.

Common Uses for petabits and terabytes

Explore the typical applications for both Petabit (imperial/US) and Terabyte (imperial/US) to understand their common contexts.

Common Uses for petabits

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.

Common Uses for terabytes

Terabytes are widely used to measure large amounts of digital data storage capacity:

  • Specifying the capacity of consumer and enterprise hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs).
  • Measuring the size of large files, databases, archives, and backups.
  • Quantifying the storage space available in cloud storage plans and data centers.
  • Describing the amount of data transferred over networks or used in monthly internet data caps.
  • Indicating the capacity of personal computers, laptops, external drives, and network-attached storage (NAS) devices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions About Petabit (Pb)

How many bits are in a petabit?

There are exactly 1,000,000,000,000,000 bits (one quadrillion bits, or 1015 bits) in 1 petabit (Pb), according to the standard SI definition of the prefix 'peta-'.

What is the difference between a petabit (Pb) and a petabyte (PB)?

  • A petabit (Pb) measures data in bits and equals 1015 bits. It is commonly used for data transfer rates and network capacity.
  • A petabyte (PB) measures data in bytes. According to SI standards, it equals 1015 bytes. It is typically used for measuring large storage capacities. (Note: The term pebibyte (PiB) correctly refers to 250 bytes).

Since 1 byte = 8 bits, 1 petabyte (1015 bytes) is equal to 8 x 1015 bits, or 8 petabits. Therefore, a petabyte represents 8 times more data than a petabit.

What is the difference between a petabit (Pb) and a pebibit (Pib)?

  • A petabit (Pb) uses the decimal SI prefix 'peta-' and equals 1015 bits (1,000,000,000,000,000 bits).
  • A pebibit (Pib) uses the binary IEC prefix 'pebi-' and equals 250 bits (1,125,899,906,842,624 bits).

A pebibit is approximately 12.6% larger than a petabit (1 Pib ≈ 1.126 Pb). Use Pb for contexts adhering to decimal standards (like network speeds) and Pib when precise binary multiples (powers of 2) are required (often related to memory or specific storage architectures).

How many gigabits (Gb) are in a petabit (Pb)?

There are 1,000,000 gigabits (Gb) in 1 petabit (Pb). This is derived from the SI prefixes: 1 Pb = 1015 bits and 1 Gb = 109 bits. Therefore, 1 Pb / 1 Gb = 1015 / 109 = 106 = 1,000,000.

About Terabyte (TB)

How many bytes are in a terabyte (TB)?

According to the standard SI definition, there are exactly 1,000,000,000,000 bytes (one trillion bytes, or 1012 bytes) in 1 terabyte (TB).

How many gigabytes (GB) are in a terabyte (TB)?

There are 1,000 gigabytes (GB) in 1 terabyte (TB). This follows the SI prefixes: 1 TB = 1012 bytes and 1 GB = 109 bytes. Therefore, 1 TB / 1 GB = 1012 / 109 = 103 = 1,000.

What is the difference between a terabyte (TB) and a tebibyte (TiB)?

  • A terabyte (TB) uses the decimal SI prefix 'tera-' and equals 1012 bytes (1,000,000,000,000 bytes). It's commonly used in storage device marketing.
  • A tebibyte (TiB) uses the binary IEC prefix 'tebi-' and equals 240 bytes (1,099,511,627,776 bytes). It's often used by operating systems to report storage capacity based on powers of 2. A tebibyte (TiB) is approximately 9.95% larger than a terabyte (TB) (1 TiB ≈ 1.0995 TB).

What is the difference between a terabyte (TB) and a terabit (Tb)?

  • A terabyte (TB) measures data storage capacity in bytes and equals 1012 bytes.
  • A terabit (Tb) measures data quantity or data transfer speed in bits and equals 1012 bits. Assuming the standard definition of 1 byte = 8 bits, 1 terabyte (TB) is equal to 8 terabits (Tb). Calculation: 1 TB = 1012 bytes = 1012 * 8 bits = 8 * 1012 bits = 8 Tb. Therefore, a terabyte represents 8 times more data storage capacity than the equivalent number of terabits.

Why is TB often used in marketing instead of TiB?

Storage manufacturers typically market drive capacities using the decimal prefix terabyte (TB) because 1012 bytes yields a larger, rounder number compared to the equivalent value expressed using the binary prefix tebibyte (TiB) (which is 240 bytes). For instance, a hard drive containing exactly 1,000,000,000,000 bytes is advertised as 1 TB. If measured in tebibytes, this same physical capacity would be approximately 0.909 TiB (since 1012 / 240 ≈ 0.909). Using TB allows manufacturers to present higher capacity figures, which is advantageous for marketing, even though operating systems might report the capacity using the smaller TiB value.

Conversion Table: Petabit to Terabyte

Petabit (Pb)Terabyte (TB)
1125
5625
101,250
253,125
506,250
10012,500
50062,500
1,000125,000

All Data Storage Conversions

Bit to ByteBit to KilobitBit to KilobyteBit to MegabitBit to MegabyteBit to GigabitBit to GigabyteBit to TerabitBit to TerabyteBit to PetabitBit to PetabyteBit to ExabitBit to ExabyteBit to KibibitBit to KibibyteBit to MebibitBit to MebibyteBit to GibibitBit to GibibyteBit to TebibitBit to TebibyteBit to PebibitBit to PebibyteBit to ExbibitBit to ExbibyteByte to BitByte to KilobitByte to KilobyteByte to MegabitByte to MegabyteByte to GigabitByte to GigabyteByte to TerabitByte to TerabyteByte to PetabitByte to PetabyteByte to ExabitByte to ExabyteByte to KibibitByte to KibibyteByte to MebibitByte to MebibyteByte to GibibitByte to GibibyteByte to TebibitByte to TebibyteByte to PebibitByte to PebibyteByte to ExbibitByte to ExbibyteKilobit to BitKilobit to ByteKilobit to KilobyteKilobit to MegabitKilobit to MegabyteKilobit to GigabitKilobit to GigabyteKilobit to TerabitKilobit to TerabyteKilobit to PetabitKilobit to PetabyteKilobit to ExabitKilobit to ExabyteKilobit to KibibitKilobit to KibibyteKilobit to MebibitKilobit to MebibyteKilobit to GibibitKilobit to GibibyteKilobit to TebibitKilobit to TebibyteKilobit to PebibitKilobit to PebibyteKilobit to ExbibitKilobit to ExbibyteKilobyte to BitKilobyte to ByteKilobyte to KilobitKilobyte to MegabitKilobyte to MegabyteKilobyte to GigabitKilobyte to GigabyteKilobyte to TerabitKilobyte to TerabyteKilobyte to PetabitKilobyte to PetabyteKilobyte to ExabitKilobyte to ExabyteKilobyte to KibibitKilobyte to KibibyteKilobyte to MebibitKilobyte to MebibyteKilobyte to GibibitKilobyte to GibibyteKilobyte to TebibitKilobyte to TebibyteKilobyte to PebibitKilobyte to PebibyteKilobyte to ExbibitKilobyte to ExbibyteMegabit to BitMegabit to ByteMegabit to KilobitMegabit to KilobyteMegabit to MegabyteMegabit to GigabitMegabit to GigabyteMegabit to TerabitMegabit to TerabyteMegabit to PetabitMegabit to PetabyteMegabit to ExabitMegabit to ExabyteMegabit to KibibitMegabit to KibibyteMegabit to MebibitMegabit to MebibyteMegabit to GibibitMegabit to GibibyteMegabit to Tebibit

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