Tebibyte (TiB) - Unit Information & Conversion

Definition

A tebibyte (TiB) is a unit of digital information storage equal to 240 bytes, which is exactly 1,099,511,627,776 bytes (or 10244 bytes). It uses the binary prefix 'tebi-' established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The tebibyte was created to provide an unambiguous measurement for byte multiples based on powers of 2, distinguishing it from the terabyte (TB), which is based on the decimal prefix 'tera-' (1012 or 1,000,000,000,000 bytes).

History

The prefix 'tebi-' (representing 240) was defined by the IEC in 1998 alongside other binary prefixes (kibi-, mebi-, gibi-, etc.). Before this standard, the SI prefix 'tera-' (T) was ambiguously used to represent both 1,000,000,000,000 (1012, as per its SI definition) and 1,099,511,627,776 (240) in computing contexts. This ambiguity became particularly significant at the terabyte scale, leading to noticeable discrepancies between advertised storage capacity (often decimal) and actual capacity reported by operating systems (often binary). The introduction of the tebibyte (TiB) aimed to resolve this by providing a specific term for 240 bytes.

Common Uses

Tebibytes are used in contexts where precision based on powers of 2 is necessary for very large data quantities:

• Reporting large hard drive capacities, solid-state drive (SSD) sizes, and file system sizes by operating systems (like Windows, macOS, Linux) and file systems that adhere to IEC standards.
• Specifying the capacity of large-scale storage systems, network-attached storage (NAS), and storage area networks (SANs).
• Software development, database management, virtualization, and cloud storage contexts where exact binary multiples are crucial for resource allocation, performance calculations, and capacity planning for massive datasets.
• High-performance computing (HPC), scientific research (e.g., genomics, astrophysics), and big data analytics involving petabyte-scale datasets where tebibyte-level precision is required.

Unit FAQs

How many bytes are in a tebibyte (TiB)?

There are exactly 240 bytes in 1 tebibyte (TiB). This equals 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.

How many gibibytes (GiB) are in a tebibyte (TiB)?

There are 1,024 gibibytes (GiB) in 1 tebibyte (TiB). This follows the binary prefix system where 1 TiB = 240 bytes and 1 GiB = 230 bytes, and 240 / 230 = 210 = 1,024.

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

• A tebibyte (TiB) represents 240 bytes (1,099,511,627,776 bytes), using the IEC binary prefix 'tebi-'.
• A terabyte (TB) typically represents 1012 bytes (1,000,000,000,000 bytes), using the SI decimal prefix 'tera-'. A tebibyte is approximately 9.95% larger than a terabyte (1 TiB ≈ 1.0995 TB). Use TiB for precision in binary contexts (like OS reporting of large disks) and TB for decimal contexts (like hard drive marketing) or when the specific definition is clarified.

What is the difference between a tebibyte (TiB) and a tebibit (Tib)?

A tebibyte (TiB) measures information in bytes, while a tebibit (Tib) measures information in bits. Assuming the standard 1 byte = 8 bits, 1 tebibyte (TiB) is equal to 8 tebibits (Tib). Both use the binary prefix 'tebi-' (240).

Why do operating systems often show lower capacity than advertised for large drives?

Storage manufacturers typically market drive capacity using decimal prefixes (TB, GB), where 1 TB = 1012 bytes. However, operating systems often report capacity using binary prefixes (TiB, GiB), where 1 TiB = 240 bytes. Since 1 TiB is about 9.95% larger than 1 TB, a drive marketed as "1 TB" (1,000,000,000,000 bytes) will be reported by the OS as approximately 0.909 TiB (1012 / 240 ≈ 0.909). This difference becomes more pronounced with larger capacities.